Adoptee abused by adoptive family makes a difference for kids in need

Blankets comfort children in crisis By Dan Meisler
DAILY PRESS & ARGUS

Pamela Marie Heggie of Oceola Township is on a mission to provide local children who are sick or in bad family situations something she didn’t have as a kid — the comfort and security of a hand-made quilt or blanket.

As the coordinator of the county chapter of Project Linus, a national group that makes and distributes blankets to ill and traumatized children, Heggie is working with social service and law enforcement agencies to find children who could use a little comfort. So far, the county group has delivered more than 100 blankets.

She’s known how to sew for a long time, but Heggie only recently got into quilting. But she said she’s hooked, and has found a great way to serve the community.

"When people say they have a calling, for the first time I understood what that was," she said.

Heggie, 36, was born in South Korea and moved to the United States as an infant. But she didn’t have a completely happy childhood — she said she suffered physical and sexual abuse as a girl, and didn’t have much support to get her through those experiences.

"I didn’t really have anybody to talk to," she said, and even having a simple thing like a blanket would have helped.