SAPPHIRE VALLEY — For the past 16 years, women at St. Jude Church in Sapphire Valley have been gathering each month to create warm fleece blankets and pray for those who receive them. Recipients, like those recovering from surgery and a woman who lost her husband and carries her blanket and his memories with her, are thankful for their labor of love.
The women belong to the prayer blanket ministry at the mountain parish, started in 2009 by the late JoAnn Zannone as a tangible reminder of God’s love for people going through illness, trauma or other difficulties.
Members don’t need to know how to sew, knit or crochet – just how to tie knots. The only requirements are a dedication to prayer and a commitment of a few hours each month.
“I’ve been personally touched by these prayer blankets because I’ve seen the healing process that can take place and the hope it brings people,” said founding member and group organizer
Kathy Borzell. “I’ve read thank-you notes from people who were in desperate straits and received one. Just knowing other people are praying for you can be huge.”
Zannone originally discovered a prayer blanket ministry at a parish she attended in Atlanta and wanted to bring the concept to St. Jude, Borzell said. Originally women met to create “prayer bears,” but that was a complicated craft and they shifted to blankets so more people could participate.
The group meets twice a month during the spring and summer and monthly during fall and winter when seasonal parishioners leave for second homes in warmer climates. During the off season, local members work on blankets in their homes.
“I bring blankets home and make them as I’m watching TV,” Borzell said.
The free blankets are made with a soft, warm fleece material. Parishioners, visitors and some recipients make donations for the ministry.
“We got a donation of $500 once from someone in Texas who was grateful for the blanket and also sent a nice note,” Borzell said. “But we don’t ask for a dime. Donations are appreciated but never required.”
Some are made for specific people, but most are made ahead of time and placed in a closet where Father Jason Barone, pastor, blesses them before they are sent out. Parishioners pick up blankets as needed and write the names of intended recipients in a book, which the women then pray over at their meetings.
Ann Carrasquillo discovered the ministry on a visit to Sapphire Valley to see a friend. She and her husband eventually bought a second home there 13 years ago, and she joined. She now participates seasonally before making the trip back to Florida for the winter.
The blankets mean a lot to recipients, Carrasquillo said. Several years ago, she sent one to a close friend whose husband was seriously ill and later died.
“She takes that blanket everywhere she goes, to bed with her, and on visits out of town,” she said. “She says it reminds her of her husband.”
Carrasquillo’s own family has benefited from the ministry.
“My husband Thomas had some back surgery and we gave him a blanket that gave him a lot of comfort when he was recuperating, and one of my brothers received one after major surgery,” she said. “He would wrap up in the blanket each evening while he was watching TV.”
The blankets start out as pieces of fabric about 54 inches wide and a yard and a half long. Members cut fringed edges and then tie knots in the fringe to hold them firm, a process that takes an hour or two. Carrasquillo said occasionally makers will hem a blanket for male recipients who don’t like the fringe.
Each blanket comes with a prayer card that lets the recipient know where it came from and that they are being lifted in prayer.
Sometimes the women will pray a rosary or other devotional during meetings, but most of the time, the prayers are spontaneous, “asking God to be with all the people and with their families, and to guide our hands as we make the blankets,” Carrasquillo said.
“For me the best part of this is the fellowship with the other women, to know we’re working together in this ministry,” she said. “It’s like the Scripture says, ‘Wherever two or three of you are gathered, I am there with you in your midst.’ We know that God is there guiding our fellowship.”
— Christina Lee Knauss