"Derek's Hugs" blankets began on a cold December night at CHOP when Derek was trying to get warm. Since his 6 foot frame literally filled the length of the hospital bed, he needed several staggered layers of blankets to keep him warm from his toes up to his chin. He told us that he wished he had a big warm, fuzzy blanket from his bed at home to keep him warm, rather than the layers of plain white
hospital blankets. His social worker overheard this conversation, and went looking for a warm blanket from their "special closet", but all she could find was an infant sized blanket. She apologized to Derek that she didn't have anything else right now, but she said that from time to time they received donations of larger blankets. Derek decided to do something about that, and had us immediately send out an email appeal to friends and family to donate fun and fuzzy blankets to help brighten the days for the other kids at CHOP. Derek died unexpectedly 2 weeks later, but by that time we had collected over 80 blankets and delivered them to CHOP for the kids to enjoy while they were in the hospital at Christmas time. More blankets were donated during the weeks following his funeral, which we delivered to Lehigh Valley Hospital for the children there to enjoy.
