A Forever Home for Hope: My Very Own Blanket Begins a New Chapter in Westerville
After more than 25 years of comforting children in foster care, the Westerville nonprofit has purchased the former Cord Camera building as its permanent home.
For more than a quarter-century, My Very Own Blanket has worked to give children in foster care something they can always call their own.
Now, the Westerville nonprofit has something of its own, too.
My Very Own Blanket announced Friday that it has purchased the former Cord Camera building, creating a permanent headquarters for the organization, its volunteers and the thousands of handmade blankets at the heart of its mission.
The announcement marks a joyful turning point after months of uncertainty.
In March, the organization learned that the lease on its current location would not be renewed. The news left its future physical home suddenly unclear and began an urgent search for a space large enough to support its work.
Organization leaders said the experience offered a humbling glimpse into the instability faced by the children and teenagers they serve, whose lives and living arrangements can change without warning.
But uncertainty has always been where the My Very Own Blanket community goes to work.
“Finding a new home that fit our needs felt like a tall order, but if there’s one thing the My Very Own Blanket knows how to do, it’s turn uncertainty into hope,” the organization shared in its announcement.
After months of searching, that hope led to a familiar Westerville landmark.
The former Cord Camera building will become a dedicated hub where blankets and quilts can be created, organized, stored and distributed to children and youth in foster care. It will also offer a welcoming gathering place for the nonprofit’s volunteers, affectionately known as “Blanket Angels.”
For the organization, owning the building provides more than additional room. It brings permanence.
There will be no future lease renewal hanging over its work and no recurring concern about where the organization will go next. Instead, volunteers, donors and staff will have a stable place from which to strengthen and expand the mission they have built together.
It is a milestone rooted in a much smaller beginning.
My Very Own Blanket started in December 1999, when Westerville resident Jessica Rudolph was knitting and wondered who should receive her next blanket. She decided to make one for a child in foster care.
Rudolph invited friends and relatives to join her, setting an initial goal of collecting 12 blankets. The first drive produced 87.
Those blankets were given to children in Delaware and Seneca counties. Within about two years, the effort had expanded to nearly 30 Ohio counties, and local newspapers had begun referring to Rudolph as “The Blanket Lady.”
As the organization grew, so did its circle of volunteers. Blanket Angels began sewing, quilting, knitting, crocheting and making no-sew fleece blankets. Each blanket was created to be new and personal, something a child could carry from one home to another and know belonged entirely to them.
By 2018, volunteers provided more than 15,000 blankets in a single year. In 2020, the organization reported that its blankets had reached children in all 50 states.
Westerville recognized My Very Own Blanket’s 25th anniversary in 2024, celebrating a local idea that had grown into a nationwide network of care.
The purchase of a permanent home adds another milestone to that history.
The organization credited its board members, volunteers, donors and community supporters with helping make the purchase possible. Their encouragement, it said, kept the organization moving forward even when the path was uncertain.
“We could not have reached this massive milestone without the relentless love and support of our board members, volunteers, donors, and community,” the announcement said. “You kept our faith strong when the path wasn’t clear, and now we get to build the future together.”
Preparations for the move are still ahead, and the organization plans to share updates and behind-the-scenes looks as the new space takes shape.
For the volunteers who have spent years making sure children have something permanent during periods of change, the new building carries special meaning.
One blanket became dozens. Dozens became thousands. A small group of family members and friends became a network stretching across the country.
And now, after more than 25 years of wrapping children in comfort, My Very Own Blanket has found its forever home.
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