A baseball has 108 double stitches. But that’s nothing compared to the thousands of stitches 10-year old Autumn Blinn used to make and sew pillows to donate them for the less fortunate.
Blinn’s grandfather John Santiago has been undergoing kidney dialysis for a year. As soon as she learned to sew, Autumn made a pillow for him, which instantly lifted his spirits. Soon, many others at the hospital were asking for pillows of their own.
“I took [the pillow] to dialysis and I showed it around and everyone loved it, so everyone wanted one,” Santiago said. “So I was like, ‘Wow, this could catch on.’ I told her, ‘Everyone likes it, would you make me more?’ She said, ‘Grandpa, I’ll make you all the ones you want,’ and about 300 pillows later, here we still are.”
That led to the creation of “Pillows of Love,” which was Autumn’s way of giving back to sick children and adults in need. The Rome, N.Y., native, who has donated more than 200 pillows to people in local hospitals, spent all Memorial Day weekend sewing 63 pillows, which she gave to sick children at the Ronald McDonald House on the Upper East Side Tuesday. Some had floral patterns, others ladybugs, and some had baseballs.
“I think that the person that gets this, they’re not going to feel as much pain because it’s really comforting,” she said. “It was really exciting because everybody was smiling … and I am a huge Yankees fan.”
Yankees manager Joe Girardi, Robinson Cano, David Robertson, Eduardo Nunez and Vernon Wells were on hand for the annual HOPE week event, in which players surprise deserving people who give back to their communities. The players surprised Autumn and her family before exchanging stories and pictures. Then the pillows were given out to the children.
“To me this is special because it’s kids helping kids,” Girardi said. “Kids going through a tough time, and, to me, it’s important that we reach out to these kids and tell them that we do care. It’s amazing what this little girl has done. The maturity of her and how she understands … what life is really about.”
Girardi wasn’t the only one impressed.
“[She’s] 10 years old, doing it from the bottom of her heart,” Cano said. “Doing it to help others, not because she wants to put her name up there.”
Robertson, a candidate for the final All-Star spot via fan voting, signed pillows, shirts, hats and other items for the kids.
“As much as we are given, it’s good for us to take a week like this and step back. To be able to come down here and bring smiles to some kids faces, that’s what it’s all about,” he said.
It takes Autumn about two minutes to sew each pillow. Then her grandfather stuffs them and her grandmother sews them shut.
Wells, in his first year as a Yankee, was experiencing HOPE Week for the first time and said he admired the kids.
“I think it puts things in perspective for us,” he said. “We have a bad day, it’s going 0-for-4 at the plate. What they are going through impacts their lives.”
After spending time with the Yankees and Ronald McDonald House children, Autumn and her family attended last night’s Yankees game, and were treated to a meal at the Hard Rock Café. Autumn also threw out the first pitch. The Yankees donated two $5,000 checks, one to the Ronald McDonald House of New York, the other to Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare in Autumn’s hometown.
Her generosity has done wonders for other people, and Autumn’s grandfather knows there’s more of that to come.
“I just hope that we can put a pillow in everyone’s house. That is my goal,” Santiago said.