By: Evans For: Ms.McFadden

S., Evans Report Linus Project In 1995 Karen Loucks read a magazine article about a little girl who said that her security blanket had helped her get through intensive chemotherapy treatments. After reading the article, Karen Loucks decided to provide homemade security blankets to Denver’s Rocky Mountain Children’s Cancer Center.( Project Linus is made up of hundreds of chapters and thousands of volunteers. The project’s mission statement is: “First, to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, tramatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteers “blanketeers”., it Second, it is our mission to provide a rewarding and fun service opportunity for interested individuals and groups in local communities for the benefit of children”.( Today there are over 350 chapters of Project Linus across the country and more than 2,000,000 blankets have been donated to children.(

S., Evans Lawrence Kohlberg Linus Project Lawrence Kohlberg was an American psychologist who studied moral development in the 1950s. He believed that moral reasoning involved six stages through which each person passes in order, without skipping a stage or reversing their order.( 02/is_0003/ai_ )The first two stages are all about oneself, meaning a person makes choices based on the fear of punishment and the desire for rewards.( kohlberg.htm) In stages three and four, persons make choices from a “member of society” viewpoint, making decisions based on the good of others, maintaining positive relations and the rules of society. Unlike stages one and two in which right and wrong are determined by self-interest, or in stages 3 and 4 where decisions are made in relations to others, stages 5 and 6 are governed by abstract ideals of right and wrong.( I believe the Linus Project falls into stages 3 and 4 of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. It is in these stages that Kohlberg believed the individual’s focus is no longer trained solely on oneself, but on oneself as a part of society. The Linus Project’s mission is to provide love, warmth and a sense of security to children who are seriously ill or traumatized. Making a blanket and giving it to an ill child are not actions motivated by fear of punishment or the desire for a tangible reward, which are the tests for stages 1 and 2. And the making of a blanket and giving it away are not acts to satisfy one’s conscience, which is the test for stage 6. Kohlberg believed that very few adults reached stage 6, in fact, his research provided so few people at stage 6 that he was unable to fully describe stage 6 in his theories.

S., Evans Press Release Linus Project Blankets Brighten Children’s Lives By Evans S. Staff Writer Project Linus provides a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need. We do this through the gift of new, handmade blankets created by our volunteer “blanketeers”.( Project Linus began in December 1995 after Karen Loucks was inspired to make blankets for her local children’s cancer center. As of September 30, 2008, two million six hundred two thousand one hundred seventy –four (2,602,174) blankets have been delivered by 384 local chapters of Project Linus.( National Project Linus President Carol Babbitt said “I am extremely pleased by the outpouring of support that Project Linus has enjoyed. The comfort brought to a child by a Project Linus security blanket should not be underestimated. Thanks to our many blanketeers and our chapter coordinators, millions of children and their families have been given comfort and security at a time when they need it most. In addition, blanketeers are given an opportunity to use their talents and abilities in a most rewarding way.”( Anyone, any age, can help these children!

S., Evans Mini Biography of Linus Linus Project Linus van Pelt first appeared in the comic strip “Peanuts” on September 19, He is Charlie Brown’s best friend and Lucy and Rerun van Pelt’s brother. Linus is seven years old, but acts much older and is often is comic strip’s “philosopher”. Linus is very smart, but, on the other hand, he is almost never seen without his blue blanket. He is the one who coined the term “security blanket”. Linus is not bothered by the teasing he gets because of his security blanket or because he sucks his thumb. His blanket gives him strength. Despite years of pressure from Lucy, Snoopy and his grandmother, Linus does not cave into the pressure to give up his blanket. Linus uses his blanket to make himself feel secure and when he was ready, he gave up the habit on his own in 1989.

 Report Project Linus National Headquarters ( Project Linus, Charlotte, NC ( Project Linus Of Rockingham County NC (  Press Release Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Reasoning; Encyclopedia of Childhood and Adolescence by Dianne K. Daeg de Mott ( Who is Lawrence Kohlberg? ( BookRags Biography: Lawrence Kohlberg (  Press Release Project Linus National Headquarters ( Project Linus, Charlotte, NC ( Project Linus Of Rockingham County NC (