Delaware’s Love Lady hopes to reach Sandy and Connecticut victims

An expression of love etched onto blankets to comfort victims of Superstorm Sandy and the school shooting in Newtown Connecticut is just what Jan Durham would like to give away but she needs help.

Durham, a part-time receptionist at Legislative Hall in Dover, may be a familiar face there, but nowadays people are calling her the “Love Lady” because she’s known to send greeting cards and blankets branded with the word “love.”

Now, Durham would like to reach more people and have a large order of blankets produced to send to areas devastated by Sandy and the 27 Connecticut families who lost loved ones at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Durham even wishes to have blankets made for military personnel.

“There are so many people that are feeling really down especially at Christmas time and they’re down and out, and I just think it would be nice for them to receive a “love” blanket and to realize that there are people that they don’t know that are thinking about them,” said Durham.

In February 2011, Durham first spoke with reporters for WHYY’s First and shared how her idea to create “love” cards and blankets was formed. Durham says she owes it all to her mother Leola Morris who passed away in 2003. Morris’s distinct handwriting of the word “love” in greeting cards was so missed by family and community members, that Durham had her mother’s signature reproduced and trademarked. That way she could keep her mother’s memory alive.

Meanwhile Durham is looking to extend her mother’s “love” even further to help victims of those tragic events. At this time, it cost roughly $20 to have one of her blankets made which is why Durham is searching for sponsors to join her cause.

If you’re interested in supporting the good deeds of the “Love Lady” you can send her an email at Janice.Durham@state.de.us.