W

hat goes around, comes 
around. One Oak Park 
mom whose son was 
born 6.5 weeks premature regularly 
crochets preemie blankets and 
donates them to two NICUs in 
Detroit-area hospitals. 
Mindy Cohen, better known as 
“Morah Mindy” because she has 
a licensed preschool in her home, 
didn’t always know how to crochet. 
More than 10 years ago, Cohen 
volunteered in a nursing home in 
Baltimore, where she lived at the 
time, and a fellow volunteer offered 
to teach the skill to whoever was 
interested. Cohen eagerly signed up. 
“I’d always wanted to know how 
to crochet. A few people had tried 
to teach me before, but I couldn’t 
understand how to do it,” said 
Cohen, who is left-handed. “In the 
end, all it took was for her to sit 
opposite me so I saw a mirror image 
and then I got it!”
In 2015, pregnancy complications 
arose suddenly and her son Ezza, 
now 9, was delivered by emergency 
C-section. The following weeks were 
a blur as Cohen recovered and a 

tiny 4.4 lb. Ezza grew slowly in the 
NICU. 
During that time, Cohen 
received a small crocheted blanket 
through Project Linus, a nonprofit 
corporation that provides handmade 
blankets to children who are 
ill, traumatized or in need. The 
organization is named for the 
Peanuts character, Linus, who is 
always with his blanket. 

“This blanket was really special 
to us,” Cohen shared. “It wasn’t an 
institutionalized hospital blanket; 
it was hand-made by a real loving 
person out there. It was really 
sweet.”
At the time, Ezza was in an 
incubator, so the blanket was draped 
over it. Once he was able to breathe 
regular air, he was often covered by 
this donated homemade blanket. 

“I still have that blanket,” Cohen 
said. “It’s folded in my linen closet, 
and every so often, I pull it out and 
look at it and marvel how small 
Ezza was and how much he’s grown 
... and think about how nice it was 
that some stranger out there took 
the time to make him a blanket 
when he was a baby in the NICU.”
In 2017, the Cohen family moved 
to Michigan. 
Over the years, Cohen had kept 
up with the crocheting and made 
numerous pieces, improving her 
skills and getting faster over time. 
She’s made blankets and shawls for 
nursing home residents, scarves 
for the homeless in Baltimore and 
plenty of baby hats. 
“Crocheting is a very relaxing 
activity,” said Cohen. “Last year, 
I started to donate baby blankets. 
I certainly don’t need any more 
blankets, and it’s a nice and easy way 
to give back to the community. I 
look at it as a positive excuse for my 
habit of crocheting!”
During a health scare earlier 
this year, Cohen was admitted to 
Henry Ford hospital in Detroit and 
asked one of her nurses if she could 
donate crocheted blankets to their 
NICU. The nurse said yes, so Cohen 
asked her husband to bring her 
crochet supplies; she then proceeded 
to crochet from her hospital bed 

Oak Park mom crochets kindness forward.
Blankets for Babies

ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

26 | SEPTEMBER 19 • 2024 
J
N

OUR COMMUNITY
Mindy Cohen 
with her ever-
present crochet 
supplies

