Working for Peanuts: The Project Linus Story

by Karen Loucks Rinedollar

Project Linus seemingly started overnight when Karen Loucks spotted a Parade magazine article entitled, “Joy to the World.” From those words and images, a grassroots movement was born. In Working for Peanuts, you’ll hear the incredible tale of how a small-town Colorado woman set out to offer love and security, through the gifting of handmade security blankets, beginning in her own backyard of Denver. Within just a few short months, Project Linus received national attention and an incredible journey was embarked upon. Hundreds of chapters formed, thousands of volunteers, aka Blanketeers, assisted and millions of children were comforted around the world. Project Linus has been featured on “Oprah”, “The Today Show”, “NBC Nightly News with Bryan Williams”, “Simply Quilts”, “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” and highlighted in Parade, People, Family Circle, Reader’s Digest and many more magazines, newspapers and television shows.

248 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2011

Reviews

[Mystic Miraflores · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book last year after becoming heavily involved in Project Linus as a chapter coordinator (when not traveling in our RV 3 months out of the year). I appreciate that Karen was honest and down-to-earth in her memoir. There were a lot of joys and successes associated with her starting Project Linus, but also many financial and organizational challenges. As a relatively new chapter coordinator, all of her experiences are duplicated in my situation, from the enthusiasm of blanketeers to the difficulty of running a chapter without available outside funds. I enjoyed the history and wish Karen or another author would give an update to reflect the Project Linus organization’s current status. For example, Patty Gregory is the current PL national president. I enjoyed the book for the most part. However, the Kindle edition was poorly-formatted with words run together, missing punctuation, and the worst part: some of the photos were missing. ☹️

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stars for the chicken noodle soup-esq stories and background of Project Linus (which as a previous and newly reengaged blanketeer I am biased) and 3 stars for the unnecessary side bars about the author and writing style leads to a 4 star overall rating.

[Bobbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting background on the origin and tremendous growth of Project Linus, a charity I support.