LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 16, 2009) – A group of teens from Bourbon County 4-H  Clubs today delivered more than 100 handmade blankets, called "Warm Fuzzies," to the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center to help keep patients warm and comfortable while they undergo chemotherapy treatments.

 

The service project started with a small club of about 15 home-schooled youth ages 6-17, said Lois Carter, 4-H youth development extension agent with the Bourbon County office of the UK Cooperative Extension Service, but it snowballed to involve about 100 teens eventually.

 

"The project started with my Home School 4-H Club, but my 4-H Teen Club has really taken it as theirs, and they feel strongly about continuing," Carter said. "They have since presented the project at a middle school 4-H conference and a districtwide teen 4-H conference.  We plan for this to be an ongoing project, bringing blankets two or three times a year."

 

The patients will appreciate the blankets and the concern and goodwill they represent,  said Dr. Kevin McDonagh, deputy director of the Markey Cancer Center.

 

"It is so important for people fighting this disease to know that they are not alone, that they have support from family, friends and their community," McDonagh said. "As cancer specialists, we can provide patients with the best clinical care available.  But it is the blanket of human warmth and compassion that sustains patients through their treatment and the return to good health.  We are so grateful for this thoughtful gift from some extraordinary young people.” 

 

The Warm Fuzzies were created from a design of the same name used by a similar service project undertaken at Michigan State University by a group of Girl Scouts. Each of the colorful fleece blankets comes with a card attached, bearing a poem titled "What Cancer Cannot Do."

 

The Bourbon County 4-H members who came to deliver the blankets were Sarah Pagan, 18, Caroline Snell, 16, Morgan Carter, 16, Ashley Cundiff,16, and David Pagan, 15.