Group at MASCO workshop donates to cancer blanket project

Group at MASCO workshop donates to
cancer blanket project
By Linda Linonis
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
By LINDA M. LINONIS
linonis@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
Compassion and caring about others is tied up in each piece of material that binds the fleece
blankets made by a group of mentally and physically challenged adults for Blankets of Hope.
Karla Hartwig, a workshop specialist at MASCO Inc., 160 Marwood Circle, learned about
Blankets of Hope from a fellow member of Greenford Christian Church, Mary Kay Erb. “We
worked on church projects and became friends,” Hartwig said. She also remembered reading an
article on the project in The Vindicator.
In 2014, Blankets of Hope developed as the senior project of Emily Erb, then a senior at South
Range High School. The blankets, each with an encouraging passage of Scripture, continue to be
distributed
to patients at Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center at St. Elizabeth Youngstown
Hospital. Emily said she was inspired by Sherrie Campana of Boardman, a nurse who works
with Emily’s mother, Mary Kay, in the cardiac medical intensive-care unit at St. Elizabeth.
Campana had breast cancer.
Emily just completed her freshman year at Youngstown State University, where she is a
psychology and exercise-science major.
“The donation was amazing,” she said of the 27 blankets made by the MASCO group. “They put
compassion and love into every blanket.”
Emily and her mother visited the workshop, where the group presented the donation. “It was nice
to sit and talk with them. The way they accepted me and told me that they loved me,” Emily said.
Her mother added, “We had a great time meeting the group. They said it meant a lot to them to
work on the blankets.”
Emily said she knows the time it takes to make each blanket. She’s made and given away 250
not counting this donation.
She said she plans to apply for status as a nonprofit organization. “As long as there is cancer, I
will continue making blankets. If a cure is found, I’ll begin another project,” Emily said.
The women and men in Hartwig’s group of 14 work in production jobs and clean up metal
products at the workshop. MASCO Inc., a nonprofit company founded in 1967, operates as the
business entity for two sheltered workshops under contract with Mahoning County Board of
Developmental Disabilities. MASCO Inc. employs about 400 adults enrolled with the two
MCBDD workshops in Boardman.
Though the men aren’t interested in making blankets, Hartwig said they want to help with
fundraisers the group plans to buy fleece to make more blankets. It takes about 3 yards of
material to make a blanket.
“The girls like to socialize and make the blankets,” Hartwig said. “They just love the idea of
helping people.”
Hartwig said she cuts strips along the fleece material, then the women tie the double knots to
bind the two sides together.
The blankets are usually made with a patterned side and solid-color side. For the initial project,
staff and families of group members donated to the effort. The Erbs add a Scripture passage to
each blanket.
“This is a way for this group to give back to the community,” Hartwig said. “And it teaches them
about being productive.”