Sue Kirk regularly skims the obits pages, looking for children whose family members have died. For each child she finds, she packs up a handmade blanket in the hopes of providing a small measure of comfort.

In the past week alone, Kirk identified eleven grieving children, one who lost a sibling and the rest losing a parent, all of whom received a blanket from Kirk.

Kirk is the coordinator for the Southern and Central Maine chapter of Project Linus and a self-proclaimed “blanketeer.” She sends “blanket hugs” to needy Maine children and she is always out hunting for more blanketeers. Kirk will speak about Project Linus at Thornton Heights Methodist Church, in South Portland Jan. 21 at 1 p.m.

Kirk regularly tours southern and Central Maine, simultaneously raising awareness about her mission and recruiting new blanketeers into the fold. She said she averages three to six new blanketeers at each one of her talks.

Project Linus, a national non-profit organization, named for the “Peanuts” character who was never without his trusty security blanket, has delivered nearly 1.5 million blankets to needy children since its inception in 1995.

South Portland resident and Thornton Heights Methodist church member Melodie Foster is one of hundreds of Maine blanketeers donating their time and money purchasing materials and making hand-made quilts and blankets. Foster has been sewing quilts for twenty years, the past five with Project Linus. Sewing is her passion, and Foster said she’s happy to use her skills to comfort needy kids.

“These children are sick or from broken homes. They just need to know somebody cares and these blankets do that,” said Foster.

The all-volunteer Central and Southern Maine chapter of Project Linus donated 1,145 blankets in 2005 alone. Kirk estimates since 1997, 4,000 children have received blankets from her chapter. Kirk said she has made over 300 blankets in her six-year tenure.

Kirk said this volunteer position is a full-time job, though she still works part-time as marketing director for a financial adviser. She brings blankets anywhere there might be grieving, sick, disadvantaged children. She brings blankets to the usual places like the Barbara Bush Hospital, Maine Medical Center, and the Center for Grieving Children. But she also goes out of her way finding group homes, foster families and shelters. She also checks the papers for house fires and accidents. She tries to be anywhere there is a child in pain, physical or otherwise.

The blanketeers of project Linus are as devoted as their leader. Scarborough resident Sandi Merrill didn’t let her osteoarthritis keep her from pumping out blankets. After two shoulder surgeries between Dec. 2004 and Aug. 2005, she is back in business, working her sewing machine. She is excited about the possibility of recruiting more volunteers.

“If we could just get one or two more people sewing, that’s a lot of quilts you can put out,” she said.

Another of Kirk’s blanketeers, a snowbird, is so devoted to project Linus that when she flies south for the winter, she still sends blankets home to Maine for Kirk to distribute, said Kirk. “Once they get going, they’re pretty committed,” said Kirk.

The Project Linus talk on Jan. 21 at Thornton Heights Methodist Church on Westbrook Street in South Portland is open to the public. For more information, call 774-0487.

Thornton Heights United Methodist Church secretary Sandi Merrill has been sewing blankets for Project Linus for the past five years. The panels on the blanket displayed were made by kids aged nine to twelve at a church sponsored camp in Winthrop Maine.