THE HEAVEN SCENT PROJECT



The Heaven Scent Project is the making of an 18” square flannel  blanket for the mother  to wear next to her body to pick up her scent.  The blanket is placed under the baby  in NICU and mother and baby now have a bonding.   There are 18-23 ladies who cut, sew, iron, and package the blankets for the NICU at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville, TN.  We meet on the 2nd Monday of the month in the CMC from 9:00 – 12:00.


The Heaven Scent Project Update

Christ Our Savior has been blessed with such a wealth of talent, friendship, and the willingness to be a part of a wonderful and useful outreach program as Heaven Scent. This project has been such a blessing to the ladies that come and sew, iron, turn or package, but more importantly, for the mothers (and some-times the dads) and, of course, the babies in the NICU at Children’s Hospital. The Heaven Scent blankets are worn by the mothers. The blanket has the bonding scent between baby and mom. Each baby re-ceives two blankets so they will always have a clean blanket with mom’s scent.


Just an FYI to anyone who might like to help making blankets at home, we have kits available made up with instructions. There are 8 blankets to each kit and no time frame for them to be returned—within reason of course. If you would like to help out but can’t make it to our Monday morning sewing group, please consider taking a kit home. You just need to sew a straight seam, ¼" seams and press. ET Children’s Hospital has requested we package 2 blankets to each package for the babies. This way, the baby will always have a clean blanket with the chance of infection lessened. Call the Church office for more information.


Heaven Scent Ministry will meet on Monday, March 8, from 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Please wear a mask. I will be setting up the CMC like I did the last time we met. Tables will be spread out with 2 people at a table. We will continue to make baby blankets for Children’s Hospital. Anyone is welcome to come even if you do not sew. Tasks include sewing, cutting fabric, turning blankets, ironing blankets, ironing on labels, and packaging blankets.

Blanket Mania


Twenty-one ladies met on February 8th to cut, iron, stitch, turn, fold and package 100 ador-able Heaven Scent blankets for the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit premies at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville! These 21 ladies collectively donated 63 hours in a labor of love!

At our January meeting, the ladies were visited by a special guest, Marlene Doolan of Farragut, who participates in a different ministry that serves the needs of the little ones at Children’s. She knits hats for the babies and wants to coordinate her hat colors with our blankets. She heard about Christ Our Savior’s Heaven Scent through the nurses at Children’s Hospital. Marlene was impressed with the scope of our ministry at COS!

Word about this ministry has also come to the attention of the Village Quilters. Judi Ritchie was asked if she wanted to submit our Heaven Scent Project to the Quilt Index at the Michigan State University Museum.

A group at the Quilt Index is putting together a book, "Quilts and Health", since many quilt guilds make charity quilts that are health related (Project Linus, Quilts of Valor, Pink Ribbon, etc.) Judi submitted our "story" and we’ll all wait to see what happens.

Have you noticed the bulletin board that Elaine Deal put together for us in the hallway to the CMC? She put photos in the order of the steps for making the blankets. Thank you, Elaine!


Please stop by and view the photos, or if you’d like to see first hand what our ladies accomplish, please know you are welcome to join us at 9 a.m. on the 2nd Monday of the month in the CMC.

(On another note, we have kits that anyone can take home to sew if a Monday meeting does not work for you. All directions are in each kit.) You need no particular skill set to share in the joy of giving your time and energy to serving a need of these newborns and their mothers through this monthly ministry. "For we are God’s handi-work, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do". Ephe-sians 2:10

Linda Anderson

To pick up materials for home sewing or for more information, please call the church office.


What's In a Number?

19... 58... 25...2... 6,100... 1,150... 8... 18,500... 6,800... 10... 9,548

Numbers can have a WOW factor and it certainly depends on what you’re counting...calories, dirty diapers, days ‘til your next vacation, number of steps on your Fitbit, the monthly total on your credit card statement, the balance in your checking account, the number of weeds popping up in your garden beds this spring.... But put some qualifiers with those numbers and suddenly they take on a very specific meaning that reflects the dedicated, joyful work of the ladies of Heaven Scent who meet monthly to make receiving blankets for the premature newborns at the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.

 

Now those numbers represent labors of love intended to help mother and fragile newborn bond as she transfers her own scent on the blanket to the baby she longs to hold and nurture.


So what are those numbers really all about? In March, 19 ladies put in 58 hours to make 25 two blanket packets for NICU. Since Heaven Scent started over ten years ago, 6100+ hours have been spent sewing blankets (1,150 hours worked at home, the remainder at COS). On average nineteen ladies sew each month, about eight are Thrivent members. Over $18,500 has been spent on materials, over $6,800 of that funding from Thrivent. These ladies have made 9,548 blankets (give or take a few)! Don’t you just see a milestone celebration coming soon!?


New faces are always welcome the second Monday of the month in the CMC! You don’t have to sew! Cutting, ironing, turning fabric, and packaging are all part of the project! With plenty of time for socializing, a coffee break, and prayer for the ministry and those who give and receive. It makes for a wonderful morning.