Hooked on Hope

See how Julee Fassnacht is turning a hobby into healing for children

If you knock on Julee Fassnacht’s door on any given evening, you’ll find her cuddled in her favorite chair, a colorful pile of yarn on her lap as she rhythmically loops and pulls strand after strand with her crochet hook.

But crocheting is more than a hobby for Julee. It’s a mission.

“Every time I sit down to crochet,
I know I’m making a difference,” she says.

For thirteen years, Julee has been crocheting blankets and selling them through her Etsy store, Blankets By Julee. She donates a third of the profits from her sales to CURE (the other two-thirds go to two other nonprofits)—and estimates she’s raised somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000 to provide children with life-changing surgical care.

“God put it on Mom’s heart years ago to use her love for crocheting to serve others, and she hasn’t stopped since,” says Julee’s youngest daughter, Maggie, who is a primary inspiration for Julee’s selfless work.

A Mother’s Love

When Julee—a Saint Charles, Illinois, resident—first learned about CURE during an event at her church, she was immediately attracted to the mission of helping children with treatable disabilities. It made her think of her daughter, Maggie.

Now 26 years old, Maggie was born with a cleft lip. At three months old, she underwent surgery to correct the condition, but her nose remained misshapen and her teeth grew crooked, drawing taunts from her preschool classmates who told her she’d never marry.

At three, Maggie had a second surgery to repair her nose, followed by years of braces to fix her teeth.

Today, Maggie bears no signs of the condition she was born with and is happily married with a one-year-old son, Cameron. But Julee never forgot the painful taunting her daughter endured and wanted to help other families like hers.

“I knew how amazing it was being able to have the different surgeries that we had and the braces . . . I thought I would like to help other parents who have children and can’t do anything to help them themselves,” she shares.

Maggie credits her mom with the healthy life she’s blessed with today.

“Mom’s mission is a testament to God taking a hardship and bringing beauty out of it,” she says.

“She did everything she could to keep me comfortable and happy and safe through different health battles throughout my life, and now she’s doing what she can to help other parents do the same.”

Julee feels strongly called by God to this mission but says she wasn’t always inclined to give so easily.

A Nudge from God

Though Julee and her husband firmly believed in tithing, it wasn’t until God nudged her unexpectedly during a church service that she realized just how much more she had to give.

At the time, she was breeding African cichlid fish and selling the babies. “I just had this really distinct impression that the hobby was mine, but the money was not,” she says. “And I was like, wow, that’s a really great idea.”

So she started giving away the money she made from the sales of the cichlids. Then, she eventually began crocheting more and more and decided to turn that hobby into an Etsy store to benefit CURE and other nonprofits.

“I thought it was going to be hard . . . and it was actually so much more fun getting it and knowing I was giving it away,” she says.

Julee estimates she spends three to six hours a day crocheting and has sold approximately 1,750 blankets, giving all the proceeds from sales to charity.

To further support the organizations and hopefully inspire others to give, she includes a note with information about CURE with every blanket she sells.

“My hope is that I’m not just donating the money,” she explains. “My hope is that by putting the brochures in there, that somewhere along the line, some other people have donated to one of the three [organizations] that struck them.”

Julee says working hard to give away what she’s earned has been a huge blessing that’s opened her up to saying yes more often in every area of her life.

She jumps at the chance to babysit her grandchildren, to support each of her four kids, to help her friends. And she hopes those who order a blanket from her are also inspired to say yes to giving freely.

“Giving is like a muscle, and if you don’t exercise it, you can’t give more in other areas and other ways because you’re all tightened up,” she says.

“I love that no matter what‌, at the end of the day,
I’ve done something valuable.”

To purchase one of Julee’s beautiful hand-crocheted blankets and help more kids heal, please visit her Etsy store, Blankets By Julee.

Other CURE supporters like Julee have done just about everything to help kids heal—hiked the Appalachian Trail, held lemonade stands, raised money as class projects, and more. Want to join in? Click here to see how you can start your own fundraiser and be part of the life-transforming journey for children in need across CURE’s network of hospitals.