WARM GIFTS FROM THE HEART

Costa Mesa High School Students Who Aspire to Be Fashion Designers
Donate Blankets to Drug Babies At Child Abuse Prevention Center.

SANTA ANA -- Drug babies who are suffering through withdrawals in the
first weeks of their lives will especially find comfort in the
donations of 10 Costa Mesa High School students.

Tiny newborn addicts shake violently while trying to cleanse their
bodies of impurities, and one of the only comforts available to them
is a nice, tightly wrapped warm blanket, said Kathy McCarrell,
director of Orange County Child Abuse Prevention Center.

"Your gifts will be perfect for that," McCarrell told the class of
aspiring fashion designers. The high school students, who are jointly
enrolled at Orange Coast College for this particular fashion class,
made dozens of blankets and donated them Wednesday to the Welcome Baby
Program at the child abuse prevention center.

Kim Truong, 16, said she made one of her quilts out of a silky fabric
so it would be soothing to the baby. The cool, smooth, off-white
patches provided a tactile contrast to the adjacent squares of warm,
soft pale green material.

"I chose silk because it will feel really good for the baby to lay
on," Kim said.

A mountain of blankets and quilts covered an entire table at the
group's center in Santa Ana -- each one different from the other. Some
were large, others small. Some were made of fleece, others of denim.

Andrew Hendricks, the only boy in the class, made one of his quilts
from Anaheim Angels fabric. Megan Plowman, 16, fashioned her patchwork
of a dark denim and trimmed it with a satiny black ribbon.

As individual as each quilt was, every one was made from the heart,
students said.

"I am just so glad that something that I love doing can help other
people too," Megan said.

The Welcome Baby Program is designed to help first-time mothers and
their infants 6 months or younger. Many of the young mothers have come
from abusive or drug-infested backgrounds, and the program works to
teach the new moms nurturing parenting practices.

McCarrell said the program tries to intervene early in the parenting
process to teach mothers and fathers there is a different way to bring
up children than perhaps what they were exposed to as children.
Program workers will deliver the blankets directly to the homes of
participating families, she said.

"These blankets are soft and comfortable, so the babies will feel
cared about," McCarrell said. "When you think of what good you did
with this project, think of the baby who will be wrapped up in them."