One of my favorite Peanuts characters was Linus van Pelt. Sincere, true to himself, and both never without and never ashamed of his security blanket. He's also lent his name to a cause I got to support this morning. Follow me below the orange fleece blanket after a word from our sponsor...
Here at Top Comments we strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
Back in January, a town near mine held a community service event on MLK Jr. Day. There were many activities to choose from; our UU congregation organized a cookie decorating station with the finished edibles being delivered to local soup kitchens for dessert. Also present was a blanket-making station, with the finished products going to an organization I'd not heard of... Project Linus.
The mission of Project Linus is as follows (taken from their website):
FIRST: Provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers.”
SECOND: Provide a rewarding and fun service opportunity for interested individuals and groups in local communities, for the benefit of children.
The organization was founded by Karen Loucks, who after reading a story of a young child battling leukemia who took her blanket to chemotherapy decided to provide homemade security blankets to Denver's Rocky Mountain Children's Cancer Center. It accepts handmade (never commercially made/purchased) blankets and gives them to hospitals to be given to children who could use one. As of 2012, the latest year listed on the local chapter's website, over 45000 blankets had been made and donated just to that chapter.
Each month my congregation selects a different service project and has an event to allow members to participate. Today we made blankets for the Linus Project... it was postponed from February because on the Sunday scheduled, we had whoknowshowmanyfeet of snow falling and service was cancelled. The senior high youth group of which K1 is a leader helped organize the project, and Mr. Brillig and I chose and delivered lots of soft, colorful fleece to be used for a "no sew" style that allowed everyone from preschoolers thru elders. The youth cut and prepped the blankets at their meeting last week, and today led us in making over a dozen soft, colorful blankets in just under 45'. Here's a few images from the morning:
If you can tie a knot, you can make a blanket!
Many hands make quick knots!
Finished blanket ready for folding!
It brought a warm, springy feeling to my heart seeing bolts of soft fleece turn into items children will clutch, sleep with, and have as tangible reminders that people care. The world needs more of that to counteract hatred, callous indifference and a disregard for the inherent worth and dignity of all of us on the blue boat we call home.
How was your Sunday? Please share in the comments after getting your daily fix of what you REALLY come here for, the Tops! Thanks to my amazing collaborator BeninSC who makes this gig so much fun.
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
From Mopshell:
In David Harris Gershon's diary McCain to Netanyahu: Treat "Abusive & Surly" Obama with Contempt by Going Rogue & Bombing Iran, this comment by Remediator brilliantly and succinctly put McCain, Jindal and all inane Sunday mornings shows in their place in the final two-line paragraph. (◕‿◕)
From ridemybike:
I am nominating a brilliant comment on "crypto-racism" by jjohnjj
in StellaRay's excellent diary.
love + hugs,
ridemybike
From a2nite:
Another diary worthy comment by LeftHandedMan about movement conservatism.
From Puddytat:
A better reaction to a post on exploding radioactive kitty litter cannot be found. The funny reply, by River Rover is also Top Comments worthy.
From flitedocnm:
In diary: "It SO Bad -- that even members of Congress are Shocked"
This comment, by inclusiveheart. Because it hits the nail squarely on the head.
From Yours Truly, brillig:
In the midst of a great comments section in stophurtingamerica's diary I am a Christian business owner in Indiana, dov12348 makes a clarification and the diarist responds with EXACTLY what the issue really is.
Top Mojo for Saturday, March 28, 2015, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you
mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary
FAQing Top Mojo.
1) Left alone, it could have accomplished more by Betty Pinson — 105
2) FYI by jamess — 105
3) Bingo by gulfgal98 — 91
4) animal nuz... by kishik — 90
5) No. Not "bigger". by inclusiveheart — 84
6) Cry me a river! There are similar provisions in by Observerinvancouver — 82
7) Yeah, for being such a "maverick" it's funny how by ontheleftcoast — 80
8) And I'm sure Stephanopoulos by MargaretPOA — 75
9) calling it "religious liberty" mocks the very by annieli — 74
10) What a horrible, horrible sore loser. by poco — 73
11) Many here may not remember just how brutally... by bobswern — 72
12) I work at the University of Arizona by Empty Vessel — 70
13) excellent diary gulfgal! by joe shikspack — 69
14) The worst words in this noxious document: by SouthernLiberalinMD — 69
15) great news for John McCain by annieli — 69
16) Or ... by Barbara Morrill — 69
17) FBI as secret police for the power structure by Don midwest — 67
18) Glad you brought up the Cleveland 5. by Ezekiel in Exile — 67
19) Don't deflect. by inclusiveheart — 67
20) Diary sitting by gulfgal98 — 65
21) one more, for good measure by jamess — 64
22) what are public parks for? by joe shikspack — 63
23) The issue of this diary is not by gulfgal98 — 63
24) Awwww! by gchaucer2 — 63
25) Tents were torn down & occupants arrested. by Billybones — 59
26) But that's the thing: by slksfca — 59
27) There's a really easy fix, Gov. by twigg — 59
28) And to some extent, religion. Remember, it's by ontheleftcoast — 59
29) Thanks for the piece about voting for by blue jersey mom — 58
30) Remember in Fahrenheit 9-11 movie the FBI by Don midwest — 57
31) And yet, the press can't stop having him on by poco — 57
2015-03-29 Top Comments with Pictures, courtesy of
jotter!