More than 200 volunteers, from youth groups to the state’s first Black lieutenant governor, crafted fringe blankets and donated food for the Blankets & Broth event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis addressed the crowd at the Friedman Jewish Community Center after tying the ends of the final fringe blanket that was made.
He said MLK Day serves as a “reminder that we all have responsibility … to do our part to make not just this Commonwealth, but this world a better place.”
“And I think in this moment that we find ourselves in … we've seen a lot of chaos and division as we get ready to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of our country, we are still striving to create that beloved community that Dr. King talked about,” Davis said Monday in Kingston.
King’s ‘Beloved Community’ is part of his philosophy of nonviolence, which promotes “a global vision” where “poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated.”
Davis talked about his grandparents, who moved from the South to Pennsylvania for a better life and to “escape the sting of Jim Crow and segregation.”
“I don't think they would have ever thought in their wildest dreams that their grandson would one day be Pennsylvania's first Black lieutenant governor,” Davis said.
Volunteers made 192 blankets for Salvation Army’s Kirby Family House in Wilkes-Barre, Project Warm with the Wilkes-Barre Department of Veterans Affairs and Ruth’s Place, the county’s only 24/7 emergency shelter for women experiencing homelessness, according to the Pennsylvania Volunteers of America.
Collected canned and boxed food will support Sara’s Table at the JCC, which feeds over 270 families twice a month.
Volunteers of all ages take part in MLK Day of Service
From local Girl Scouts to high school robotics teams and JCC pickleball groups, volunteers of all ages crafted blankets to keep those in need in Luzerne County warm through the winter cold.
Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Hughes, 6, who insisted she was six and two-quarters old, hand-stitched a baby pink and blue blanket with her grandmother, Patty, whom she calls ‘Lolly.’ She said King was an activist and that he had “a dream.”
“We are making blankets for the needy, and I’m also making mini-blankets for plushies (her stuffed animals) for fun … Whenever I need blankets to be tied, I just ask my Lolly to tie them,” Charlie said, while she sat on her grandmother’s lap next to a pile of bundled palm-sized blanket scraps.
Patty Hughes said she brought her granddaughter to the JCC to teach her from a young age to give back to others.
Wilkes-Barre Area High School students Ariana Cobb, 14, My unique Crawley, 14, and Isabella DeGraffenreid, 16, made blankets as part of their school’s Key Club, which is an international student-led service organization.
DeGraffenreid, a junior and the Wilkes-Barre area Key Club’s vice president, said the students were invited to Monday’s event by the local Kiwanis Club and wanted to give back to others.
“This is my second year at the event (Blankets & Broth), and I love the community that it brings. I love meeting all the different people and being able to bond over helping others. I think it's so beautiful,” DeGraffenreid said.
Blankets and food serve Luzerne County community
Monday’s event was the JCC, NAACP Luzerne County Branch #2306 and O’Donnell Law Offices’ third Blankets & Broth event.
Cathy O’Donnell started the event after she was inspired by Davis and Governor Josh Shapiro’s inaugural ceremony around four years ago which held a similar fringe blanket donation event.
She said she could not be more thrilled with this year’s turnout of more than 200 volunteers who made nearly 200 blankets in about an hour and a half.
“We are so grateful that so many of our neighbors will be warm tonight because so many people in our community cared enough to help them,” O’Donnell said.
Denise Acosta, Director of Kirby Family House, said she feels “honored” that the families who face homelessness that she helps will be kept warm by blankets made by their community.
“Everyone came together, and this is a dream of Martin Luther King … I'm just honored to be here and see the beautiful blankets that are made … It's going to keep my families warm, but it's unity, and it's love here, and that's what's important for today,” Acosta said.
Blankets & Broth organizers say the blankets will be distributed later today.
