Longboat Key resident donates lap quilts

Life at Longboat Key fire stations got a little cozier when resident Marlene Campanaro stopped in. 

On Nov. 16, Campanaro brought 15 handmade lap quilts to the police and fire stations, a continuation of a tradition she follows every year. Campanaro knits the quilts throughout the year and gives them out to an organization at the holidays. 

“I started doing it for disabled veterans,” Campanaro said. “ One year, I made them for the VFA, one year I made them for migrant children at my church.”

This year, Campanaro was more restricted with where she could go due to COVID-19, so she started thinking locally. Longboat’s EMTs had helped her over the year, so she turned her knitting niceties at them. 

“I haven't done anything really for Longboat, and I thought their families would use them,” Campanaro said. “They’re lap blankets, but small children enjoy them. It’s a nice way of giving back to your community.” 

When Campanaro came with her quilts, the first responders of Longboat Key were overjoyed. Fire and EMS liaison Tina Adams set up a time for her to come by, but the firefighters on shift didn’t know she was coming, so it was a pleasant surprise. 

“She had just told us how every year she makes the lap quilts and will donate them to different groups,” Adams said. “She asked our interest. Anything our community does is greatly appreciated … We’re always taken aback by it and were more than happy to accept them.” 

Quilts were split between the two stations, and Adams said some of the firefighters were excitedly already pointing out the patterns they liked the best. 

“We’re going to do a lottery where staff who are interested are going to be put in drawing and we’ll draw names until all the quilts are given out,” Adams said. 

Longboat Key Police Chief Kelli Smith decided to put the blankets in squad cars for her officers to give to those who could use a little piece of comfort as a way of paying it forward. 

“If someone is in trauma, we can give them that little piece of comfort,” Smith said. 

Campanaro brought more than the blankets by. Because she knew she couldn’t give a blanket to everybody, she also made holiday card care packages with notepads and pens, in case someone needed to send out Christmas greetings and couldn’t get to a store. 

“She’s just such a wonderful, caring person,” Adams said. “I literally cannot say enough about her.”