Swaddling World’s Children in Love

As you read this, Lisa Vermont will be on a plane from her home in Northern California to Khabarovsk, a small province in southern Russia, to adopt an abandoned baby from an orphanage. In her suitcase is a special flannel baby blanket, something to make 11-month-old Danica feel safe in the world as she makes the journey to her new home.

This is the story of her new blanket.

It’s from a small, year-old Los Angeles company that has grown from the embers of the once-wounded heart of founder Athena Demetrios, who wants to “blanket the world with love,” as her company’s slogan promises. The soft little “blankies,” as Demetrios calls them, made of cotton flannel with a 2-inch border of silky satin charmeuse, angel babies and cuddly cows floating on pastel backdrops--have been sold by the thousands across the country, each blessed by Demetrios before being leaving the Luv Dat Baby factory.

“The strongest healing force in the universe is love,” Demetrios says. “When I bless the blankets, I believe that the resonance of love is infused in the fabric. I want that baby to be blanketed by . . . that resonance.”

The words printed on the packaging, addressed to the baby, say it all: “Here is a blanket to call your very own. Sleep in peace, precious one, and angels will watch over you. This blanket has been blessed by a loving grandmother.”

Luv Dat Baby blankets have been propelled into more than a hundred stores nationally, including select Nordstrom and Bellini stores, as well as smaller boutiques like Subtle Tones in Santa Monica.

And the blankets are also reaching down into the most wounded of society to touch lives in ways that Demetrios initially dreamed of. In the spring, she and partner Bunny Hart launched a charity drive to make the blankets available to children in less fortunate circumstances. They chose the little-known but dynamic Children’s Institute International, which, among other services, provides emergency intervention for children caught in the cross-fire of domestic violence, quickly rushing them into shelters. The blankets are a source of comfort and stability when the children may have nothing else.

“These blankets bring joy to so many children. And besides that, they’re cute,” says Sandy Brooks, wife of country singer Garth Brooks, by phone from their Tennessee home. The couple found out about the blankets and charity drive when he worked on a music video in Los Angeles with Demetrios, who spends part of her time as a makeup artist.

John Travolta was a sponsor in the spring drive, which funded 200 blankets. The drive is again gearing up to fulfill the initial goal of 500 donated blankets, soliciting an additional sponsors who will buy Christmas blankets for the children.

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The seedling of the idea for the blanket was a serendipitous moment at LAX.

“I saw this little baby dragging a blanket, just too big for her, but she just wouldn’t let the blanket go. It was like me dragging around a whole comforter,” Demetrios says. So she designed a blanket measuring 18 inches by 21 inches--just big enough to feel ample to a child but small enough to carry around.

But it was the birth of her granddaughter, Ali, that was the catalyst to go into business.

“I wanted to create a blanket for her, something that would welcome her into our hearts and into the world,” Demetrios explains. “And she became so attached to the blanket that . . . my son-in-law suggested I make these available to other children.”

Like many entrepreneurial visions, the blankets also originate from a private, primal place. The 51-year-old grandmother of two remembers a natural impulse, even as a child of 5 or 6, to cover her siblings.

“After the house was still and quiet and everyone was asleep, I would get out of bed and make nightly rounds, ensuring that each of my six brothers and sisters was covered with their blankets. When I knew they were safe, warm and secure, the world felt right.”

Finding Strength in Adversity

Demetrios overcame a “childhood with challenges,” as she euphemistically calls it, but doesn’t want to go into details.

“I just don’t want to sound like a victim, which I’m not,” she explains.

“I do believe our greatest gifts at times are born out of overcoming adversity. My experiences became my best teachers. They have helped to shape my character and have given me an empathetic and compassionate heart.”

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Affirmations, faith in the universe and your higher self and belief that anything is possible have brought Demetrios to the magical place she sees herself in.

“I needed $150,000 to go into production--legal fees, trademarking, fabric, you name it--and had just left this discouraging meeting with my son-in-law and partner, John [Cornish], who was telling me it was high-risk capital and difficult to raise. I was driving home, I’ll never forget this, driving down Vine and I made a right-hand turn on Fountain.

“I was having a silent conversation with God, and I said, ‘OK, God, how are we going to raise this money?’ And a man handed me this pamphlet as I was turning this corner. In my life, I have never reached out of the car and grabbed a pamphlet, but it was automatic,” she says.

“And there it was, in huge letters, ‘With God, All Things Are Possible.’ I started laughing,” she says, “and I knew it would come.”

And it did.

Message of Love Draws Investors

Investors have since flowed like wine, drawn by the blanket of love and its message. And the alchemy of product and message are sending orders into orbit.

“They just kind of flew off the shelves,” reports Shirley Friend, who operates the Golden Butterfly, what she calls a “tiny shop in the tiny town” of Watsonville, population 30,000, in Northern California. “People were standing here when I was unwrapping them. Even before I got them into the showroom they started buying them right out of the back room.”

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As a black American, Hart has a dream for Luv Dat Baby that differs slightly from Demetrios’.

“It was tough for me growing up as a little girl and not seeing my image on things, on products. It hurt. And even though now we have black dolls, and toys for little boys, there are other children out there--Asian, Hispanic, American Indian--that need to see their reflection. They need to know that they’re special and have their unique place on this planet,” she says, unwrapping a soft-pink blanket, Rainbow Babies, in which the little baby angels have a multitude of skin tones.

“I’ve seen it with my own eyes, when a child is presented this blanket, even the older children, and are able to see their own reflection. I’ve watched their eyes light up, they look at me, and go, ‘Oh, there I am.’ ”

Bringing Comfort to Those in Pain

But the blankets’ greatest gift is to troubled young souls.

“We had a little boy, 3 1/2 years old. I can’t even tell you all the details because I don’t want to identify him,” Dr. Laurel Gray Coman says. “His mother had put out burning cigarettes on his forehead. His little hands had been dipped in boiling water,” says Coman, program manager of children’s treatment services at Children’s Institute International. “He was suffering from horrible nightmares both during the night and during the day. And we used a combination of a tape of healing stories for him to listen to, and the blanket to help him feel safe when he slept. The nightmares went away within 48 hours. We call it the magic blanket.”

And in response to customer requests, the company is expanding its line to include receiving blankets and regular-sized blankets. And its first mall kiosk has opened for the Christmas season at the Westside Pavilion, where they’ll also take orders for the Christmas blanket drive, in which customers can write a message to the child who receives it.

And in just a few days, little Danica will be flying halfway around the world from Russia to California, clutching a little blue flannel blanket with black and white cows and white satin trim that’s meant to tell her she’s loved and wanted. At last.

* To take part in the blanket drive, call (800) 933-3381. Blankets are $26.95.