Saprea Receives Largest Ever In-Kind Donation from Minky Couture

Sandi Hendry started Minky Couture with one blanket. Her daughter was hospitalized with a serious health condition and asked for a soft and cozy blanket. Hendry looked at all kinds of different blankets in hopes of finding a fabric that would provide comfort to her daughter.

“Comfort is a feeling, a feeling of peace and tranquility,” she said. Every time she visited her daughter at the hospital she saw other patients wrapped in her daughter’s blanket. Hendry quickly learned a soft and warm blanket could act as a comforting hug and have a calming effect. So, she made 40 more blankets for others in the hospital.

The retired elementary school teacher began her business in 2009 after making the blankets for her friends and family. Word spread quickly and Hendry started selling them out of her car. Not long after, she moved her business online and opened her first store.

Today, Minky Couture has 300 employees and six stores. About 70% of its sales are online. The business is in the process of purchasing a second warehouse. Hendry believes the success of her business is built on continued efforts to give back to the community. Minky donates thousands of blankets to charities, hospitals, and fundraisers around the country. “The more you give, the more it comes back to you,” she said.

Minky Couture recently donated 2,000 blankets to Saprea to give to survivors who attend its in-person healing retreat. The donation, valued at $530,000, is the largest in-kind donation in Saprea’s history. “This is a community issue [child sexual abuse], and it means the world to us when businesses in our community partner with us and so generously support those that we serve. We are so grateful for the donation and the support,” said Saprea Executive Director Matthew Hartvigsen.

Saprea Case Manager Julie Cattani said “the joy on the women’s faces when they are given the blankets in incredible. They feel so comforted. This gift is a treasure of our survivors.”

“Survivors who come to the retreat are at a pinnacle time in their lives. They want to move forward and become healthy,” Hendry said. “Why not give them something of comfort to help them?”

Hendry is the mother of seven daughters and 27 grandchildren. Eight of those grandchildren have been in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) across the country. Knowing her plush blankets could bring comfort and hope to newborns, Hendry donates 3,000–5,000 mini blankets to NICU units across the globe through her charity, The Heart of Minky.

“We dream to blanket the world in Minky Couture and we do our best to meet this goal by supporting people and communities in the special and tender moments of their lives with our hand-sewn blankets,” she said.

Hendry also encourages those who have been given a Minky to consider giving one away to someone needing hope and encouragement during a difficult time in their life.

Minky Couture has never been about the money, Hendry said. “I wanted to leave my grandchildren something from me. I want them to know that my first and foremost desire was always to give back. “