Recognizing Gina Loss of Great Falls

Floor Speech

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Mr. GIANFORTE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Gina Loss, founder of the Great Falls Project Linus chapter, for leading efforts to provide comfort to Montana's children. Project Linus is a national organization with chapters throughout the country. Its primary mission is to create handmade blankets to give to children who face a challenge, crisis, or emergency. Facing her own challenges, Gina was inspired to create a local chapter of Project Linus. When faced with personal challenges, Gina believes many people often ask, ``Why me?'' When she confronted her own challenges, she asked herself, ``How do kids get through hard times in life?'' Considering that question led her to found the Great Falls chapter of Project Linus in March 2006. Since its launch, the chapter has given more than 15,000 blankets to kids through hospitals, dentist offices, and neonatal intensive care units, among others. The entire community has embraced the effort, and now hundreds of volunteers across Montana offer handmade gifts of comfort for thousands of kids in need. Volunteering her time and resources, Gina uses her home as the chapter's headquarters, overseeing everything from storage to quality control. Her home is also the distribution center where the blankets are sent around the state. Gina says people don't realize how much a blanket means to a child who is thrust into difficult, challenging circumstances. She says as soon as a kid gets one of their blankets, they immediately settle down and never let it go. Madam Speaker, for bringing together people across the state to provide comfort to children when they need it most, I recognize Gina Loss and the Great Falls chapter of Project Linus for their Spirit of Montana.

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