The Record, Troy, NY
Recently, Schwanda became involved with Binky Patrol, a national organization of volunteers who provide blankets to kids. “Quilts comfort children,” said Schwanda, “With each quilt you are making, you are sending love to a child who needs a little help and support to get through a difficult period in their life.”
When Ann Schwanda read about Lindsey Tremblay, an 11-year-old Waterford Girl Scout who has a rare liver disease and needs a transplant, the Mechanicville mother of three knew there was a little something she could do that might make the dark days ahead a little more bearable. Schwanda got in touch with the girl’s troop leader, Cindy Sokol, and offered to help them make a quilt to comfort Lindsey when she receives her new liver, an operation slated for January.
Sokol jumped at the chance, and recently more than a dozen girls from her troop and two others gathered in the basement of the Waterford Unit ed Methodist Church to get to work on the project.
Sifting through hundreds of small, purple fabric squares, some girls selected blocks to piece together and others began drawing pictures to be incorporated into the final design. The room buzzed with excited young voices and the whirr of the half-dozen or so sewing machines toted to the site by mothers and grandmothers. “My friend is going through a rough time right now,” said Dayna Sokol, adding that she was planning to draw a picture of a cat on the square she was making for the quilt. “I felt she needs a little cheering up. I felt she could use the boost.”
Schwanda has been quietly making quilts for kids like Lindsey for more than 15 years. She started making small quilts with chil dren when the eldest of her three sons was in preschool as a way to be involved in his schooling and the greater community. The first quilts they made, small ABC quilts, were given to children born with AIDS.
Some teachers liked the project so well they asked her to come back well after her own children had left the school, said Schwanda.
Recently, Schwanda became involved with Binky Patrol, a national organization of volunteers who provide blankets to kids. “Quilts comfort children,” said Schwanda, “With each quilt you are making, you are sending love to a child who needs a little help and support to get through a difficult period in their life.”
Together with teacher Karigon Elementary School teacher Tracy Ropitzky and quilter Dayle Gruder, who heads the local chapter of Binky Patrol, the three devised a quilt-in held each year on Martin Luther King Day at the school. To date they’ve made more than 500 quilts to comfort kids in Hospice, foster care organizations and local shelters.
“It’s really a commu nity effort,” said Schwanda, noting that many people give of their talents to make the effort a success. “We started the quilt- in five years ago, and the first year we made 24 quilts. Every year we try to do more. Last year we made 65 quilts,” said Schwanda. “It is one day of organ ized effort and several months worth of work for Ann Schwanda,” said Gruder, who became involved in Binky Patrol, after a tragedy of her own.
“I lost my house in a tornado in 1999 and my friends and family had been so generous that I decided to give back,” she said. “Since I am a quilter, I thought I would do it that way. I thought it would be a good way to do something and make a difference.
“There are a lot of resources on the internet for quilters,” she explained, not ing how she initially started quilting for the Linus Project, but found it difficult to travel to meetings. “Somehow I found Binky Patrol.”
Founded in 1996 by Susan Finch of Laguna, Calif., Binky Patrol got its start when Finch, an art gallerist, web designer and strategist, tried to volunteer for a local battered women’s shelter and found she didn’t have enough time to dedicate to the required training.
“My mom came up with the idea to make blankets for unwed mothers and, knowing she doesn’t always follow through with her ideas, I offered to help. I came up with a name, a logo and a press release and in four hours it was done,” said Finch, who is currently confined to bed rest, expecting her second child. It was a press release printed in a local paper that turned the organization from a local effort to a national cause. “That’s the press release the Oprah people saw,” she laughed, noting that the talk show diva introduced her concept to the world and the calls started pouring in. Binky Patrol then went from a five-person operation to what it is today, a nationwide network of volunteers who make everything from quilts to bears and other snugglies for kids to cuddle.
Gruder says her chapter has donated scarves, hats and mittens to homeless shelters, and has even sent blankets to families of victims of the space shuttle disaster.
“After 9-11, someone in Arizona even sent me about 25 sets of dog boots for the rescue dogs, which we sent down with a co-worker who volunteered down there at ground zero,” she said. Word of mouth, and kindnesses such as Gruder describes are the reasons Binky Patrol has blos somed, says Finch.
“It just kind of took off. There aren’t a lot of rules … as long as it can be washed in hot water (because most institutions don’t have the ability to wash things in special settings) and has a label with a number so people can find out where they can get more, it can be a Binky.” While Finch is gratified by the success her moth er’s idea and her work has spawned in others, she’s not interested in overall numbers. “I don’t care, really, if it grows. I only care if it stays pure,” she said. “I want people to do it for the right reasons. It shows in their blankets. The kids can really feel it.”
The Mechanicville Chapter of the Binky Patrol needs volunteers. Gruder is always looking for peo ple to sew, crochet or deliver finished blankets. If you would like to donate a few hours of your time or attend the Martin Luther King Day quilt-in, call Gruder at 664-5271 or Schwanda at 383-4410 for more information.