Dr. Laura Teams Up With The Mormons

Please forgive if someone already posted this. It's a transcript of a portion of Dr. Laura's program of 12/10/01 about 15,000 blankets donated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And please forgive my ineptness at not knowing how to format this. Enjoy: Dr. Laura Schlessinger Transcript Dec. 10, 2001 Blanket Donation by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Dr. Laura: I am Dr. Laura Schlessinger. I do welcome you to the show today. I am my kid’s mom. Starting the show a little differently today. I have some surprise guests because since early this morning I have been at my foundation, The Dr. Laura Schlessinger Foundation for Abused and Neglected Children, stuffing bags with some 15,000 blankets, 15,000 blankets each beautiful and each different, hand-made donated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It used to be easier to say their name. They were called Mormons. But now it’s long. It’s like Schlessinger. You have to really be committed. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints out of Utah, these people just saved us like angels coming from heaven. We’re going to tell the story together. We had an organization, a major big organization in the sports field, that had promised 15,000 blankets and reciprocally I had done something for them having to do with children and they did not hold up their end of the agreement. And I went on the air because I was stunned, just in despair and worried because we had promised 15,000 children [butchkins] that they would be getting these "My Stuff" bags before Jan. 1. and I didn’t imagine it was going to happen and then we had somebody listening in from North Carolina, Randolyn Emerson. Do you want to pick up the story from here? Randolyn: I’d love to. It was Monday, October 22 and I had had a week that I could have called in and talked to you about. And I heard on the radio you say that your corporate sponsor had fallen through. I also heard you say, "They tell me I have 15 million listeners. If only 15,000 of you will make, knit crotchet, buy, a blanket and send it in to us we’ll be ok." That touched my heart--I knit. But then you followed up with a letter that was written by a young lady in Vacaville, California, a member of my church. Dr. L: Oh my gosh. Randolyn: I heard her on the radio and I thought just as you did. Oh my gosh, we’ve got thousands of blankets looking for a home. They were made by women all over the country, some from other countries. Dr. L: Oh you’re kidding! Randolyn: In hopes of serving a need and to put the two together would just be wonderful. Dr. L: So what did you do? Randolyn: I got home and got on the phone. Dr. L: To? Randolyn: To a person that I know in Salt Lake City, the world-wide headquarters of the church. I got a call that afternoon. Dr. L: I have this friend who needs 15,000 blankets... Do you have any boxes? Randolyn: Well the name Dr. Laura Schlessinger did help a little. Dr. L: Oh good. I am glad to hear that. Randolyn: And they sent it right up the channel. It went to the very highest levels of the world-wide church and you got your blanket approval. Dr. L: Speaking of the highest levels. We have Roger Brown, manager of field operations for Humanitarian Services, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He flew in from Salt Lake City, Utah with a broken foot! Now that is above and beyond the call of duty. So she made the call and then what happened? Brown: Well, when we heard the need was there. In the Church one of our main goals is to strengthen families and to help children internationally as well as here in the US. And so when I looked at the inventory of quilts that we had available to ship right at the moment. We had 15,000 child-sized quilts and so two truckloads were sent here during the last 2 or 3 weeks for the big Stuff-a-thon today. Dr. L: Which they are still doing. That was fun. We had a routine going there. I got the papers to write on and books and puzzles. That was my thing. Everybody stands in an assembly line. And to talk about what it is for the kids to receive these is Terry Parsons. She’s with West Valley Crisis Response Team. If you could move a little closer to the microphone. Now that we have the 15,000 blankets and the... I was going to say Mormon. I am sorry. I am so used to it. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you have to have intitials or something. Brown: You can say LDS. Dr. L: Oh, I can say LDS? Just don’t say LSD. All right, All right. Brown: The Church believes that we are another testament having the Book of Mormon and that is where the nickname comes from is the second testament of the Savior. Dr. L. Oh that was considered a nickname? Oh, OK Brown: So the original name has been since the church was restored in 1830, the full name but it became easier to say as you can notice. Dr. L: Yes. Brown: Some people didn’t think that we were Christians and so we would like the full name expressed at least first. Then you can short cut it to LDS. Dr. L: Got it. Got it. All right. So Terry what is it like when the kids get the bags. Is it any big deal? Are we really doing all of this for nothing? Terry: Boy is it a big deal, Laura. Crisis Response Team responds to rapes, murders, suicides and multiple fatality traffic accidents. And our team of 25, we’re volunteers that are on call 24/7 and we respond to the victims that cannot be attended to by the police officers at the time. And in many, many cases, these children are a part of a crime scene that they cannot cross the tape to return to their own homes. They are waiting for relatives if they are around--even in state, to take them to another home for the time being, or most often children’s services. And that is where we come in. And I can hand these bags as I have done so many times to these children whose faces light up and in most occasions are so incredibly happy they feel like they are getting a gift at Christmas time. But most often [we get] the ones that feel so undeserving and so unworthy and they’ll look in the bags and they cannot comprehend the fact that many people have spent a lot of time and energies making things and putting things in those bags for them specifically. And it really, really touches their heart as it does mine. And it is really indescribable to see their faces change. That somebody could do something that much for them. Those are the ones that I cry when I get home over. Dr. L: Yeah, I am starting to tear up now myself. (Pull myself together.) You know because you just imagine a little kid saying, "For me?" The point of these bags is, as much as we could get in them, would be made by people or contributed by individual people, not just a bunch of stuff we could go buy. Because as you know we always inform the social workers and what have you, the crisis counselors, that they should tell the children that people cared about them because there is that humanity that has been strangled out of so many of them as they begin to dissociate from a sense of recognition of somebody else, of the value of themselves with respect to somebody else because they have been so brutalized. Terry: There are toiletries in there even. Often we’ll be at the police station and they have to go to Child Protective Services from there with nothing except the clothes on their back. And they may not see a parent for a very long time. Dr. L: And now they have the blessing of somebody else saying "Go brush your teeth!" Also with us is Laurel Abernathy, from Vacaville California. Randolyn just talked about your letter. What was your letter about? Laurel: Well, I work with a group of teen age girls in the Church and we have a Personal Progress Program to teach them goal setting and the different spiritual values that we believe in. One of them is good works and I was looking for an activity to highlight good works and I was listening to the radio and heard about the Blanket Brigade. I thought, "Oh, that’s wonderful. I believe in blankies. All of my kids have blankies. That’s just wonderful every child should have a blankie." Dr. L: What do you mean every child. I only sleep with one blankie. Laurel: And so I had these girls, most of whom had never sewn before, make some very simple baby blankets and child-size blankets. I wrote a quick note to explain why they weren’t perfect. I didn’t fix them except for pulling the pins out that the girls forgot. Dr. L: I remember reading that sentence. How could they be imperfect when they were made with love. What is imperfect about that? Laurel: I wanted them to know that they were made with love and the girls got really excited about it. And I just dashed the note off real quick to let them know why they weren’t perfect and you read it on the air. Dr. L: You know it is amazing how all these pieces came together. Because we get tons of stuff and I only pick certain letters because you can’t read them all on the air. And it is just amazing how one thing led to another and this is why when people say there are just accidents or coincidences--I don’t think so. Randolyn: We had two ends of the country. North Carolina on the east coast and California on the west coast. To have been together at the same time in order to make all of this an exciting reality is just not a fluke. Dr. L: Well on behalf of all 15,000 children I really thank you all tremendously. I am so grateful for the church and the members in it. Clearly this is a religion where everybody walks the talk. And I am very, very, very grateful. We are going to meet our deadline. All these kids are going to get taken care of. And now we have to start again in January! Brown: The Church of Jesus Christ, which our really preferred nickname or shortened version would like to participate next year in another way. Dr. L: Oh , fabulous! Brown: We’d like to invite you come to Salt Lake City to see our Humanitarian Aid Center and see how we might help you. Dr. L: Done. I’ll be there. I’ve got warm gloves. I can go anywhere. Thank you all very much and for all of you who would like to get involved the Stuff-a-thons are going on in Calabasas, California, in southern California right now getting ready to make sure all 15,000 of these beautiful blankets are in, and teddy bears and crayons and all kinds of wonderful things and toiletries. The foundation number is 888-222-9158. Bless you all. You have certainly blessed us.

HOPE THIS HELPS

Dr. Laura Schlessinger Transcript Dec. 10, 2001 Blanket Donation by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Dr. Laura: I am Dr. Laura Schlessinger. I do welcome you to the show today. I am my kid’s mom. Starting the show a little differently today. I have some surprise guests because since early this morning I have been at my foundation, The Dr. Laura Schlessinger Foundation for Abused and Neglected Children, stuffing bags with some 15,000 blankets, 15,000 blankets each beautiful and each different, hand-made donated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It used to be easier to say their name. They were called Mormons. But now it’s long. It’s like Schlessinger. You have to really be committed. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints out of Utah, these people just saved us like angels coming from heaven. We’re going to tell the story together. We had an organization, a major big organization in the sports field, that had promised 15,000 blankets and reciprocally I had done something for them having to do with children and they did not hold up their end of the agreement. And I went on the air because I was stunned, just in despair and worried because we had promised 15,000 children [butchkins] that they would be getting these "My Stuff" bags before Jan. 1. and I didn’t imagine it was going to happen and then we had somebody listening in from North Carolina, Randolyn Emerson. Do you want to pick up the story from here?

Randolyn: I’d love to. It was Monday, October 22 and I had had a week that I could have called in and talked to you about. And I heard on the radio you say that your corporate sponsor had fallen through. I also heard you say, "They tell me I have 15 million listeners. If only 15,000 of you will make, knit crotchet, buy, a blanket and send it in to us we’ll be ok." That touched my heart--I knit. But then you followed up with a letter that was written by a young lady in Vacaville, California, a member of my church.

Dr. L: Oh my gosh.

Randolyn: I heard her on the radio and I thought just as you did. Oh my gosh, we’ve got thousands of blankets looking for a home. They were made by women all over the country, some from other countries.

Dr. L: Oh you’re kidding! Randolyn: In hopes of serving a need and to put the two together would just be wonderful.

Dr. L: So what did you do? Randolyn: I got home and got on the phone.

Dr. L: To?

Randolyn: To a person that I know in Salt Lake City, the world-wide headquarters of the church. I got a call that afternoon. Dr. L: I have this friend who needs 15,000 blankets... Do you have any boxes?

Randolyn: Well the name Dr. Laura Schlessinger did help a little.

Dr. L: Oh good. I am glad to hear that. Randolyn: And they sent it right up the channel. It went to the very highest levels of the world-wide church and you got your blanket approval.

Dr. L: Speaking of the highest levels. We have Roger Brown, manager of field operations for Humanitarian Services, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He flew in from Salt Lake City, Utah with a broken foot! Now that is above and beyond the call of duty. So she made the call and then what happened?

Brown: Well, when we heard the need was there. In the Church one of our main goals is to strengthen families and to help children internationally as well as here in the US. And so when I looked at the inventory of quilts that we had available to ship right at the moment. We had 15,000 child-sized quilts and so two truckloads were sent here during the last 2 or 3 weeks for the big Stuff-a-thon today.

Dr. L: Which they are still doing. That was fun. We had a routine going there. I got the papers to write on and books and puzzles. That was my thing. Everybody stands in an assembly line. And to talk about what it is for the kids to receive these is Terry Parsons. She’s with West Valley Crisis Response Team. If you could move a little closer to the microphone. Now that we have the 15,000 blankets and the... I was going to say Mormon. I am sorry. I am so used to it. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you have to have intitials or something.

Brown: You can say LDS.

Dr. L: Oh, I can say LDS? Just don’t say LSD. All right, All right.

Brown: The Church believes that we are another testament having the Book of Mormon and that is where the nickname comes from is the second testament of the Savior.

Dr. L. Oh that was considered a nickname? Oh, OK

Brown: So the original name has been since the church was restored in 1830, the full name but it became easier to say as you can notice.

Dr. L: Yes.

Brown: Some people didn’t think that we were Christians and so we would like the full name expressed at least first. Then you can short cut it to LDS.

Dr. L: Got it. Got it. All right. So Terry what is it like when the kids get the bags. Is it any big deal? Are we really doing all of this for nothing?

Terry: Boy is it a big deal, Laura. Crisis Response Team responds to rapes, murders, suicides and multiple fatality traffic accidents. And our team of 25, we’re volunteers that are on call 24/7 and we respond to the victims that cannot be attended to by the police officers at the time. And in many, many cases, these children are a part of a crime scene that they cannot cross the tape to return to their own homes. They are waiting for relatives if they are around--even in state, to take them to another home for the time being, or most often children’s services. And that is where we come in. And I can hand these bags as I have done so many times to these children whose faces light up and in most occasions are so incredibly happy they feel like they are getting a gift at Christmas time. But most often [we get] the ones that feel so undeserving and so unworthy and they’ll look in the bags and they cannot comprehend the fact that many people have spent a lot of time and energies making things and putting things in those bags for them specifically. And it really, really touches their heart as it does mine. And it is really indescribable to see their faces change. That somebody could do something that much for them. Those are the ones that I cry when I get home over.

Dr. L: Yeah, I am starting to tear up now myself. (Pull myself together.) You know because you just imagine a little kid saying, "For me?" The point of these bags is, as much as we could get in them, would be made by people or contributed by individual people, not just a bunch of stuff we could go buy. Because as you know we always inform the social workers and what have you, the crisis counselors, that they should tell the children that people cared about them because there is that humanity that has been strangled out of so many of them as they begin to dissociate from a sense of recognition of somebody else, of the value of themselves with respect to somebody else because they have been so brutalized.

Terry: There are toiletries in there even. Often we’ll be at the police station and they have to go to Child Protective Services from there with nothing except the clothes on their back. And they may not see a parent for a very long time.

Dr. L: And now they have the blessing of somebody else saying "Go brush your teeth!" Also with us is Laurel Abernathy, from Vacaville California. Randolyn just talked about your letter. What was your letter about?

Laurel: Well, I work with a group of teen age girls in the Church and we have a Personal Progress Program to teach them goal setting and the different spiritual values that we believe in. One of them is good works and I was looking for an activity to highlight good works and I was listening to the radio and heard about the Blanket Brigade. I thought, "Oh, that’s wonderful. I believe in blankies. All of my kids have blankies. That’s just wonderful every child should have a blankie."

Dr. L: What do you mean every child. I only sleep with one blankie.

Laurel: And so I had these girls, most of whom had never sewn before, make some very simple baby blankets and child-size blankets. I wrote a quick note to explain why they weren’t perfect. I didn’t fix them except for pulling the pins out that the girls forgot.

Dr. L: I remember reading that sentence. How could they be imperfect when they were made with love. What is imperfect about that?

Laurel: I wanted them to know that they were made with love and the girls got really excited about it. And I just dashed the note off real quick to let them know why they weren’t perfect and you read it on the air.

Dr. L: You know it is amazing how all these pieces came together. Because we get tons of stuff and I only pick certain letters because you can’t read them all on the air. And it is just amazing how one thing led to another and this is why when people say there are just accidents or coincidences--I don’t think so.

Randolyn: We had two ends of the country. North Carolina on the east coast and California on the west coast. To have been together at the same time in order to make all of this an exciting reality is just not a fluke.

Dr. L: Well on behalf of all 15,000 children I really thank you all tremendously. I am so grateful for the church and the members in it. Clearly this is a religion where everybody walks the talk. And I am very, very, very grateful. We are going to meet our deadline. All these kids are going to get taken care of. And now we have to start again in January!

Brown: The Church of Jesus Christ, which our really preferred nickname or shortened version would like to participate next year in another way.

Dr. L: Oh , fabulous!

Brown: We’d like to invite you come to Salt Lake City to see our Humanitarian Aid Center and see how we might help you.

Dr. L: Done. I’ll be there. I’ve got warm gloves. I can go anywhere. Thank you all very much and for all of you who would like to get involved the Stuff-a-thons are going on in Calabasas, California, in southern California right now getting ready to make sure all 15,000 of these beautiful blankets are in, and teddy bears and crayons and all kinds of wonderful things and toiletries. The foundation number is 888-222-9158. Bless you all. You have certainly blessed us.

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