Photo courtesy Roseann Leibrock
By Elizabeth Wulfhorst
MIDDLETOWN – “Imagine if you’re getting chemo and having a terrible day and you come out and they give you a warm, cozy blanket.” This is the sentiment behind Threads of Courage, started by Tinton Falls resident Roseann Leibrock as a way to do a little something nice for people who are not feeling their best.
On Nov. 25 Leibrock donated 20 handmade, chunky chenille blankets to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Monmouth (MSK). “I thought I’d make 20 blankets and be done,” Leibrock said. But her friend, Patti Dowd of Colts Neck, had a different idea. Almost three years ago, Dowd was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and continues to receive treatment at MSK. Dowd told Leibrock that one of the worst parts of chemotherapy was how cold she got during the treatment.
“This is really the heart and soul of Patti,” said Leibrock. “She is the type of person who is always giving and doing for other people and that’s what drives her.” And Leibrock wants others undergoing treatment to know “there are people out there who are thinking about you.”
It takes Leibrock about two hours to knit one 58-by-40-inch blanket, which becomes the patient’s to take home. Once completed, the blankets are neatly folded, tied with a ribbon and given a tag with a quote by Anais Nin, “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” The blankets are then packed in zippered bags for delivery to MSK.
The blankets are distributed at the discretion of Jason A. Konner, M.D., a medical oncologist at MSK. “Dr. Konner decides who needs a blanket today, who is having a bad day, who is just diagnosed,” said Leibrock. MSK has 18 chairs in its infusion suite and provides treatment Monday through Saturday, she said, so Threads of Courage is not able to make enough blankets for every patient. On average, about 500 people receive infusions each week at MSK Monmouth.
To increase the number of blankets they can donate, Leibrock wants to hold small workshops in the new year to teach others how to knit the blankets. “Quality is really important,” she said. During a three-hour workshop, a person could make a beautiful blanket for a patient and have the skills to go home and make one for themselves, she said, then be “on call” to make more for Threads of Courage as needed. “Within the next two months we’ll probably be producing 50 more blankets,” Leibrock said. “I will definitely need knitters.”
It costs about $70 for the material required to make and package each blanket. Thanks to some positive feedback after a Facebook post and Dowd spreading the word to friends and family, Threads of Courage has enough money to buy material for 40 more blankets. Leibrock hopes to complete and donate 10 more to MSK before the end of the year.
“We’re really just getting off the ground,” Leibrock said. “But we’ve already gotten a lot of funding.” And she is working hard to take the charity to the next level.
Threads of Courage is a family affair: Leibrock’s daughter Jaclyn, a communications major at the College of Charleston, plans to handle the initial marketing, social media and website for Threads of Courage as part of her senior capstone project.
Donating the blankets is “embarrassing” for Leibrock, she said with a laugh. “But I have to volunteer. I have to. It’s just a thing for me. I like doing it. It makes me happy.”
