DETROIT – Back in April, Local 4 partnered with Gift of Life Michigan to host a blanket-making event.
Comfort blankets are provided to newly grieving donor families. They are often the last thing that touches a donor before their organs are procured. The blankets become a touching keepsake for the donor families.
Learn more about Gift of Life Michigan’s comfort blankets here.
Through the Go 4 It: Creating Comfort event, we made 322 comfort blankets -- a record for the Michigan Donor Family Council.
The crowd started early and grew throughout the day. It seemed everyone had a story to share -- someone they knew was a donor or someone they loved received an organ from a donor. They all wanted to be part of making the comfort blankets.
The momentum grew after the event was over and now Local 4 viewers are holding their own blanket-making parties.
The freshman class at International Academy saw the Go 4 It event and had its own blanket-making party, as did members at Bethel Baptist Church.
Waynette Hostetler, a resident of Grosse Pointe, and her church friends helped make 50 comfort blankets after a family in their congregation lost their 30-year-old son, Jordan.
He donated his organs to Gift of Life.
“The blanket is a wonderful remembrance,” said Roger Ulmer. “It was a special day, you know? And it also allowed our church to pitch in and say, ‘Yeah, we wanted to do something for Jordan. Yeah.’”
“When we thought about it, and just what Gift of Life meant to us, and our experience with that and Jordan donating his organs, we thought it was wonderful,” said Sue Ulmer. “We’ve received one letter from his heart recipient, so we got to share a part of that letter with our church family that afternoon. And I think that was really touching, too because, okay, that made it real. Like this story makes it real, that we were able to help the life of this young man.”
Becoming a donor
Michigan residents can join the organ donor registry. According to Gift of Life Michigan: Signing up means that “upon your death, you agree to become an organ, eye and tissue donor to save up to 8 lives, and potentially heal up to 125 others.”
Click here to learn more and to sign up to become a donor.
We want to honor those making a difference. Click here to nominate someone who’s Going 4 It in your community. We’ll be featuring your nominees every month on Local 4 and ClickOnDetroit.