Lisa Paul

Project Linus provides "security blankets" to ill children reassuring them and helping them feel safe and calm with the presence of something as simple as a blanket.

Lisa Paul, a senior at Wichita East High School, has devoted countless hours to starting the Project Linus Program in her state. This nationwide program provides blankets to children at hospitals and battered women's shelters.

Project Linus was named after the security blanket-toting character from the "Peanuts" comic strip. Nearly 175 chapters of Project Linus exist, with more than 37,000 blankets having been delivered nationally. Lisa learned about Project Linus two years ago when the project was featured on a talk show. When she realized that no chapter existed in Kansas, she contacted the national coordinator of the program and was named the Kansas State Coordinator. As the state coordinator, Lisa contacts volunteers, collects blankets, delivers them to hospitals, makes media appointments, crafts blankets herself, sends out brochures to publicize the program and mails thank you notes to all participants. Through her efforts and supervision, 172 blankets have been donated and distributed to needy children in the state and hundreds of volunteers have made blankets for needy children.