A Wonderful Day of Warmth

Dear Friends,

I would like to share a story with you...

As you may or may not know from my recent Facebook posts, I received a call last week from Yvonne Lee of Scotiabank where she had mentioned they would like to donate approx 300 blankets to Blanket BC.

On Monday, I went to pick them up with my personal minivan. Low and behold, when I arrived to the office on the 34th floor, there were roughly 45 boxes that contained 40 waterproof blankets each!
I was able to take 4 boxes that day and deliver them straight to Covenant House.

I mentioned on Facebook that I would need a bigger truck. Well, not a few minutes later, Bill Dick, owner of Phoenix Truck & Crane offered up a truck and driver for the day! Through his son Trevor, he managed to give us a full days use on Thursday...with no hesitation. Phoenix driver, Raj Kumar met me at Maple Leaf Storage, where he helped me empty out our secondary locker.

We drove to Scotiabank and picked up 40 large boxes, filling Raj's 3 tonne cube truck. We delivered to 15 shelter programs and 5 SOR's (Single Occupancy Rooms). The reception we recieved by the amazing people who work at the shelters was overwhelming to say the least. So many organizations had absolutely nothing in their bins. We also gave away 300 towels kindly provided by K-Bro Linen Services, which were also in great demand. After dropping off most of our donations downtown, we made a special delivery to a Coquitlam street youth worker named Brianne. She recieved 160 waterproof blankets for a program she puts together every winter. I look forward to working with her soon!  I also delivered to the Haven in the Hallow shelter in Mission, who is now turning people away at the door due to being full.

There is still much more to be done, but I will tell you this...this is a great start to our winter season and people will be warmer and drier, even if they have to sleep outside. Still, it breaks my heart to know people are still out in the element.

All of this couldn't have been done without our wonderful caring friends at Phoenix Trucking, K-Bro Linen Services, Maple Leaf Storage, and our newest Blanketeer, Raj Kumar!

Hope this story warms your heart up just a little!

Spread the word, spread the warmth!

Your friend,

Greg