{"id":70481,"date":"2023-05-12T03:15:56","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T10:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/?p=70481"},"modified":"2023-11-28T18:02:54","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T02:02:54","slug":"guests-make-600-blankets-on-world-cruise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/whats-new\/guests-make-600-blankets-on-world-cruise\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruise Passengers Donate 600 Blankets to Children After World Voyage"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Holland America Line guests embark on a Grand World Voyage<\/a>, they\u2019re likely looking forward to one bucket-list adventure after the next. What they may not expect is a group of volunteers knitting and crocheting blankets on the world cruise for Project Linus in support of children in need. For Gail and Marty Gottlieb, hosting fellow \u201cblanketeers\u201d isn\u2019t just a fun activity to enjoy while cruising around the world \u2013 it\u2019s a passion project.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Project Linus<\/a> is a nonprofit organization that provides handmade blankets to children (up to 18 years old) in the U.S. who are seriously ill, traumatized or otherwise in need. Holland America Line supports our passenger volunteers by contributing to materials and helping to secure space onboard where they can knit and crochet their beautiful pieces. After learning about the organization in 2017, and meeting volunteers that sail the seas creating one blanket after the next, the Gottliebs couldn\u2019t resist the worthwhile cause.<\/p>\n

Marty has a saying: \u201cEvery blanket is beautiful, and it was made from the heart with love.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"View<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

There\u2019s definitely a lot of love woven through each one, which can take up to six weeks to complete. There\u2019s also a lot of yarn. In fact, the Gottliebs gathered one million yards of yarn in more than 40 different colors for the 2023 Grand World Voyage. You read that right: ONE MILLION YARDS! They purchased 100 percent acrylic yarn directly from manufacturers, sorted through it all in their garage, and then rented a truck to haul the supplies to the cruise terminal before embarking on their grand adventure. And speaking of adventure, the Gottliebs have had many with Holland America Line.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\u201cWe cruise over 200 days a year,\u201d Gail said. \u201cWe do the world cruise every January \u2013 May. In August, we fly to Europe and get on a Pinnacle Class ship for three months, bringing it back to Ft Lauderdale. The crew: they are like family, and we feel that this is our second home which happens to sail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sailing is something Holland America Line<\/a> has been doing for 150 years. Travel is our tradition, and the blanketeers not only share that tradition \u2013 they\u2019re growing a new one and have been doing so for more than 15 years<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0When the Gottliebs got involved in 2018, nearly 40 guests helped create 150 blankets on the Grand World Voyage that year. They estimate that a few thousand blankets had been made in total at that point. Since they began leading the effort in 2019, the numbers have continued to grow from 300 blankets that year to more than 618 in 2023. This year\u2019s donations were made possible by 160 volunteers. Every time a blanket is turned in, they ring a bell and walk around proudly sharing the heartfelt contribution. Once the ship returns to Ft. Lauderdale, the South Florida Chapter of Project Linus will gather the blankets and distribute them to more than 15 locations.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

If you happen to set sail on a Grand World Voyage, stop by to meet these amazing blanketeers, and don\u2019t hesitate to join the fun. You\u2019ll see this volunteer activity highlighted in the Daily Program, and you\u2019ll likely catch them in various venues onboard, from the World Stage to the Crow\u2019s Nest. Even if you haven\u2019t made blankets before, they\u2019re more than happy to help you get started. You can also volunteer to help with other tasks if you don\u2019t knit or crochet.<\/p>\n

To all of those who have shared their hearts through this worthy cause, thank you. We\u2019re confident your beautiful blankets will comfort children for years to come.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1984,"featured_media":70477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-whats-new","category-whats-new"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1984"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70481"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70574,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70481\/revisions\/70574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}