Year in Review

Each New Year brings additional challenges, struggles, and without a doubt, our hands-on approach has allowed us to quickly direct our limited resources where they were most needed.

This year we assisted additional shelters, various housing groups, transitional homes and generally adjusted our program to ensure that we continue to assist our original demographic of people in shelters, on the streets and to those homeless who are virtually unseen. The success we achieve stems from our fundamental dedication, responsiveness and our flexibility to continuously adapt to the changing needs of our clientele and our ability to obtain resources to meet the demand on our services on a timely basis.

We continue to take steps to strengthen our services with our flagship campaign in November and with that, Blanket BC’s "Drive on the Line" campaign celebrated its eighth year with a record number of monetary donations. We collected an amazing $6031.60 in our coin boxes and $1700 from our PayPal account – all truly driven by very enthusiastic Blanketeers. We collected over 5500 blankets during this year’s drive, and a little over 1200 articles of clothing. You just couldn’t beat the quality and enthusiasm of these wonderful people who came out to support our event!
This winter was met with many challenges including our horrendous snow storms which impacted pick-ups and deliveries. Even with the best of snow tires, the dangers were too great this year. Many organizations along with the people they protect were impacted greatly and it was a tough year.

This next year will test us as well. But with that, it will also create a stronger bond among us and create a greater drive within to overcome any adversity we will have before us. As a team we will move forward more focussed, more driven, and more motivated than ever before and after speaking with professionals in the non-profit and political world, knowing what our weakness is today, will help strengthen us for tomorrow.

I hope this has created a strong measure of satisfaction for all those who participated with Blanket BC projects; I strongly believe that we have developed a methodology for future growth with limited resources to those who continue to fight at the poverty level.

When Blanket BC started as a father/son small project, I never thought we’d be here today. In just over 11 years, I’m proud to say, we have collected and distributed over 250,000 blankets to date; and we’ve done so on limited funding. We’ve only been able to do so much because of the passion we have for people, the caring for our community and more importantly, volunteers like you! This is something we should all take pride in.

I am confident that our message regarding poverty is being received and understood in communities, businesses and schools throughout British Columbia. Our relationship with key donors, and longstanding partnerships with local businesses, and our ability to identify essential needs of our clientele, are the major factors that have made Blanket BC a recognized leader in shelter donations and homelessness advocacy.

In closing, I would like to think we ended the year energized, focused and with a strong sense of motivation. Blanket BC is confident that we can provide important services to our clientele even in the current difficult economic environment.
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I wish to thank you, our generous and committed donors, volunteers and board members, for your dedication and continued support. With your involvement, we can continue to help thousands of people that face daily challenges against all odds.

Thank you!