 | Judy Keen Memorial |  |
You can help!
Volunteer at our warehouse on Saturday October 15th to sort and count the blankets and coats from 9am-2pm PLEASE EMAIL OR CALL AHEAD TO LET US KNOW YOU ARE COMING, THANKS!
Help collect, sort, fold, and label all the blankets and coats. We will have projects for all ages and abilities. Contact Laura Haven our Volunteer Coordinator for more info twp.laurah@hotmail.com or call us at 978-441-9474
About Judy Keen: Judy was a resident of Chelmsford along with her husband of many years Charles Keen. They were avid donors that took our weekly urgent needs newsletter as a personal shopping list. Each week they stopped by to drop off car loads of new dishes, pots or whatever was needed. She passed away in 2008. We are honoring her quiet devotion and her love of quilting by dedicating this project to her.
Their daughter Wendy Keen is a local caseworker with Community Teamwork Inc. In her words..."It was a well-known rule in our family that as we traveled across town, province or state, we would stop at each fabric store we found. My mother loved creating, particularly with a needle and thread. Without using a pattern, my mother easily stitched up quilts, dolls, blankets and dresses for friends or family events. When people would ask her how she could do this without a template, my mother would smile and shrug. She was never comfortable being the center of attention; w hat came as naturally to her as breathing was helping others. She knew from her own childhood what it was like to go without. Mom wanted to do what she could to help ease that worry for other children and their families. She believed that ultimately, a meaningful life was defined by how much a person supported and bettered the lives of others. "
This year we are proud to be participating in the City of Lowell Hunger/Homeless Awareness month and National Make a Difference Day by collecting blankets and coats for all ages.
The need is greater than ever this year. By October the temperature is usually dipping below freezing in MA. Thousands of clients both young and old need warm coats to walk to school, work, therapy and the grocery store. They will be seeking ways to stay warm through the night. DOWNLOAD THE POSTER!
What we are collecting:
- Blankets: that are clean including baby blankets, quilts, comforters for all beds, new and used throws in fleece or any warm material
- Coats: clean and fully functional coats welcome in sizes for babies up to very large adults (please no spring coats). We need more than 3,000 and for all sizes from infant bunting/snowsuits to
XXL adult coats and larger. Waterproof and warm coats are most popular. - The biggest shortage each year are for men's and women's XXL+ sized coats
- Fleece pullovers and sweatshirts also welcome
- New hats, gloves, mittens These can be purchased very inexpensively through www.dollardays.com. You can even ship them to us. We are happy to provide a tax receipt. For hygiene reasons, we do ask for new for these accessories. Home made (unused) items are very welcome!
- New socks and underwear for all ages and sizes (clean used long-underwear and clean used thick wool socks are also welcome)
Most homeless are families and live in some form of shelter. But too many families have to choose each month between paying the heat bill - or buying medicine or food. As more homes go into forclosure the homeless family population is growing larger daily and moving deeply into the middle class.
In fact most homeless are working poor families who just cannot make enough money to sustain a household. The homeless single-adult shelters are also struggling in this economy. Most homeless men are tradesmen and the fall of the housing market leaves so many day laborers without work. The single-adult homeless men and women are also primarily living in shelters as they work out of a life crisis or medical condition.