About 125 blankets collected!
In honor of the Girl Scouts’ 100th anniversary in 2012, troops from Service Unit 51-7 launched the “Spread the Warmth: Girl Scout 100 Blanket Drive” in December support of Reston Interfaith’s Embry Rucker Shelter.
At our Dec. 12 winter service project meeting, Girl Scouts brought in the blankets, linens, towels and pillows they collected, overflowing two lunch tables! During the meeting, they also:
- created Thank You cards to donors
- created flyers for collection bags
- decorated cards for Operation Smile
- listened to a story about homelessness read by SUM Anne Parrish
- listened to a presentation by Reston Interfaith on other volunteer opportunities
- bagged the blankets and linens, and placed them in Reston Interfaith’s van
Thanks to the Girl Scouts who collected blankets, as well as to generous Herndon Patch and Reston Patch readers who donated blankets, we reached the 100 mark on Saturday, Dec. 16! And thanks to ongoing efforts by troops such as 181 and 4931, the number of donations has increased to about 125!
A big THANK YOU also goes to Trader Joe’s in Reston, which donated the bags that will be used for neighborhood door-to-door collections for additional donations.
Troops can continue to collect through the new year as Embry Rucker’s residents are sometimes transient and take the blankets with them. If you continue to collect, here are the guidelines:
- New or clean, gently used blankets (any size), twin sheets, pillow cases, towels and wash cloths.
- New pillows.
Reston Interfaith is NOT accepting anything stuffed, like comforters, quilts, bedspreads with filling or used pillows for reasons of hygiene.
If you would like to donate items or have questions,
please click here to send an email to SU 51-7.
Continuing to collect blankets and linens? Contact Therese Howe for more bags if you need them. Need more flyers? Click below to download and print:
Our efforts have gained attention online locally and nationally! Thanks to notices in the Herndon and Reston Patch, we have had great community response asking how to support our effort and donate blankets and linens.
http://reston.patch.com/articles/local-girl-scouts-collecting-blankets-for-reston-interfaith
http://herndon.patch.com/articles/local-girl-scouts-collecting-blankets-for-reston-interfaith
Our Blanket Drive also was posted recently in GSUSA’s blog:
