Last month, the Washington State Senate today passed Senate Resolution 8646, honoring the participants of Project Linus for providing handmade blankets to seriously ill and traumatized children.

Formed in 1995, Project Linus gained national notoriety in the wake of the Columbine High School shooting, when Project Linus organizers founded National Make a Blanket Day, sending handmade blankets to local chapters in Denver. The Tucson chapter of Project Linus was founded in 1999.

There are eleven Project Linus chapters in Washington state, and their blanketeers create, collect and distribute thousands of blankets to children in need every year, just as we do here in Tucson. Washington State Senator Sam Hunt said that he sponsored the resolution because “the simple gesture of providing blankets made with love to children diagnosed with severe illnesses so often brings a moment of peace in the face of pain.”

We’re very proud of our fellow blanketeers in Washington and applaud them for their recognition.