from The Paper of Montgomery County Online
Kids help on moving day
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The Paper photo by Bill Dotson Logan Hayman (left), Noah Hayman and Eli French move bags full of blankets Monday.
And the children shall lead them.
At least that’s how it appeared on Monday, which was moving day for Angel Blankets Covering Montgomery County – the local chapter of the national Binky Patrol organization.
Chapter coordinator Angela Largent said the group learned recently they would need to move out of their quarters in the Myler Building – at the southwest corner of Pike and Water streets – and find a new home.
They were contacted by officials of Christ Lutheran Church, who offered them space there, Largent said.
"That was very nice of them. Pastor Doug (Givan) is a very nice man," she said. "We’re going to be pretty spread out for awhile, with things both upstairs and downstairs."
As with any move, lots of bodies were needed to haul numerous items, like big plastic bags full of blankets and more. Able-bodied adult volunteers were in short supply Monday morning, though, Largent said – so she and her family and chapter volunteers turned to their kids for help.
The youngest helpers enjoyed making a game of rolling, pushing and tossing the bags of blankets down the front steps, where they were stuffed into a van for the big move.
"A lot of our volunteers are elderly, retired people or nursing home residents so they couldn’t really help us out with this," Largent said.
The Angel Blankets/Binky Patrol volunteers sew blankets that are given to children who are sick, neglected, abused or who may have experienced some other trauma such as losing their home in a fire.
"We give them to the fire departments and police to keep in their vehicles for whenever they might be needed," Largent said.
The blankets are also passed out to 27 different agencies in Montgomery County for the same purpose, such as the Family Crisis Shelter, the Well Baby Clinic and others, she said.
"Kids always want a blanket around them – and once they get it, it’s theirs to keep; they’re never recycled," she said. "We’ve been doing this for eight years and in that time, we’ve given away over 25,000 blankets. Most of our volunteers are in their 70s or 80 plus we go to local nursing homes for help, where they have ladies’ sewing circles."
The group also makes hats, scarves and mittens as well – "so there shouldn’t be any children in Montgomery County who are cold," Largent said.
The young movers went to work about 8 a.m. Monday and were mostly done well before noon.
"The kids have really been a big help," Largent said.