Briefly in the news

Olivia Penfil, an 8-year-old Newport Beach resident, and Mary Benizio,

her 91-year-old great-grandmother, will donate pink and blue homemade

quilts to Share Our Selves this week.

Penfil came up with the idea after seeing a television special about

babies who need blankets.

She is taking sewing classes, and Benizio, who lives in New York, has

been a seamstress most of her life.

Three quilts have already been completed and were donated Wednesday to

Share Our Selves, a Costa Mesa nonprofit that aids the homeless.

Benizio will return home this week, but the material for five other

quilts has been cut and Penfil plans to finish them and donate them too.

Karen Harrington, director of development at Share Our Selves, said

the project will benefit the group, the donors and the community as a

whole.

“Teaching the community, especially children growing up, the value of

giving back to your community is so important,” she said. “As far as our

clients go, getting a homemade quilt is just something very special that

I imagine a family would keep with them. It is something made by loving

hands for a baby and it’s just such a nice thing.”