Children Comforted By 'Binky Patrol'

By Jennifer Pierce, NEWS 9

HARRAH, Okla. -- They call themselves the ‘Binky Patrol,' a group of Oklahoma City area women who meet once a month to sew personalized gifts for children who have gone through traumatic events.

One Saturday out the month you can find these women cutting, tying and sewing their love into colorful blankets.

"I love sewing and I'm trying to teach them to sew," Beth Veazey, a Binky Patrol member said.

Veazey has enlisted the help of her granddaughters. They're working on a one-of-a-kind quilt that will go to a youngster who has been abused, neglected or a child battling an illness.

"Because kids need blankets," Isabel Burfield, Veazey's granddaughter said.

And this group calls these special blankets binkys.

The women volunteers for the Oklahoma Binky Patrol and Dana McEntire formed the local chapter.

"It was actually started in 1996 in California by a woman named Susan Fintch," McEntire said. "I read about it in a magazine and my friend and I, our two children, our girls, were getting older and thought we would like to do something like this, so we started in January of 2004."

The group runs on donations and volunteers and they're always looking for someone who can help brighten a child's day.

"We just need people to come help us sew or do anything. You don't have to sew, that scares a lot of people. ‘Oh I don't know how to sew.' You don't have to. I'm new at it but hey, you see what I'm doing," Binky Patrol member Glinda Wright said.

Wright and the other women give their time because of the end result.

"It's just wonderful to see their little faces when you give them a quilt and they know it's theirs," Wright said. "It is comforting to them."

The Binky Patrol also gives the blankets to local police departments for officers to keep in their cars to give to children.

To become a volunteer, make a donation or learn more about this group, visit the Binky Patrol Web site or the Oklahoma Chapter Binky Patrol Web site.