Beverly Easterling is aiming to bring a little comfort to children, with the help of beautiful blankets. Easterling is the president of a group she started 13 years ago called Sewing Hope.
“Sewing Hope was designed to teach economically challenged women to learn how to do some sewing, some alterations, so they could make enough money to put in the family bucket and stay home with their children,” Easterling said.
Then, in January 2010, she started working with Eckerd Community Alternatives, the lead agency for child welfare in Pinellas, Pasco and now Hillsborough counties to provide soft and welcoming blankets to foster children.
Easterling is a former New York City-based textile designer. She said these comfort blankets come with special meaning for the kids.
“I just want to be able to give them hope,” Easterling said. “Just a little bit of hope. They’re not meant to be bed blankets. They’re meant to be blankets that, ‘I’m feeling sad, nobody loves me, I’m going to cuddle up with my blanket.’”
Easterling explained that she and her volunteers finish the edges of the blankets to give them a nicer appearance.
To date, about 2,000 blankets have found their way to foster children who each get to pick out the blanket that catches his or her eye. Easterling has one hard and fast rule about them:
“I will not let any blankets leave this facility that are not prayed over,” she said.