Help Wichita Falls woman craft, donate 550 blankets for kids in time for Christmas

WICHITA FALLS ( KFDX/KJTL ) — One local woman is setting out to ensure every Wichita Falls child has a Christmas gift this holiday season.

Seamstress Antoinette Kirby-Boynton is working on hand-making hundreds of love blankets for kids with the Helen Farabee Center, but she says she can't do it alone.

It stems from a duty to protect children.

"Kids are the only creatures on this Earth that cannot fend for themselves," Kirby-Boynton said.

Getting a headstart, Kirby-Boynton has started crafting 550 love blankets for local children in the pair's second year of partnership.

"I want a regular outlet for this to go to every year," she said. "I don't want to scramble to find children in our community who would like to receive something for Christmas."

For childcare specialists at the center, even the smallest of blankets go the longest of ways.

"What benefits babies but blankets? I think it'd really be a great source of comfort for the babies," Director of Early Childhood Intervention Charlcie Flinn said. "We're really excited to be able to take those out around Christmas."

Handmade blankets can especially benefit those in the foster care system or facing instability.

"We do see a lot of kids who are referred to us from CPS, or maybe they're in foster care, and they've moved around a lot or have some instability or may not have belongings that are just theirs," Director of Child Adolescent Services Amanda Cantu said. "I think this will be a great thing for them."

It's a hefty goal, but Kirby-Boynton is surrounded by a team of fellow love blanket makers.

"If we get down to the last 10 or 20 blankets that we're short, then I pick up the phone and call each one of them and say, 'Can you do two? Can you do three?'" she said.

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"It does not also have to be handmade. Walmart, Target, the Dollar Tree, they sell these lovely soft fleece blankets," Kirby-Boynton said. "They are just as important, and it's not the cost; it's thought and the care."

If you'd like to make or simply buy a blanket to help Kirby Boynton and her team reach 550 blankets, you can drop them off at 905 Baylor Street throughout December. If you need assistance or would like somebody to pick up those blankets, call Helen Farabee Centers at (940) 397-3100.

Kirby-Boynton also crafts winter hats for children at Wichita Falls elementary schools. If you'd like to help with that effort, stop by her office at 905 Baylor Street.