A South Cariboo family is looking for help finding an heirloom baby blanket that was mistakenly thrown in with other items brought to the Cariboo Family Enrichment Centre in 100 Mile House.
Talking about what happened this fall when she donated the baby clothes, Lish Boutilier warns, “I’m probably going to cry because I feel like a jerk for losing it.”
The blanket is described as checkered, light pink, light blue and off-white with satin ribbon edges.
Boutilier says there’s a $100 reward for the person who returns the blanket, which was originally given to her mother, Rail Lake resident Terry Williams Schoeler, by an aunt from the United Kingdom when she was pregnant in 1978 with her first son, Kris Schoeler.
Kris, a 108 Mile Ranch resident, is expecting a child in April. Boutilier has two kids of her own. When she went to retrieve the blanket recently to pass it along to her brother, she realized it was missing and what had happened.
“It was used as a blanket for me and my brother and [my mom] wanted to keep it because it’s from her family.”
Schoeler and Boutilier went on Facebook and contacted the Cariboo Family Enrichment Centre (CFEC) and the Cedar Crest Society for Community Living to get the word out about retrieving it.
Erica Henderson of the CFEC says Boutilier was very upset when she came in.
“We felt very bad for her. We haven’t found it yet. We did make an announcement at our drop-in lunch program. That’s usually where we see a lot of the moms who take the stuff that has been donated.”
Henderson adds this is the first time she can remember something like this happening.
“We’re doing whatever we can to try and find it.”
Schoeler says she’s “blown away” by the concerned responses on social media and appreciates what people are doing to help them retrieve the item.
“Back then I was a poor, single, teenage mother. It was one of those things I knew I would have to hold on to, that I wanted to hold on to.”
The family is asking people to call Boutilier at 250-395-3227 or contact Schoeler on Facebook if they find the blanket.
