Kate and I have had a very busy 2019 already! We have gone to hand out Blanket Wraps at DRMM Genesis House, Blessed Hope Christian Church, South Oakland Shelter, and the Detroit Youth and Dog Rescue Community Table Events. As of today, our total count of DELIVERED Blanket Wraps is 567! Wow! At Genesis House, we got to see a bunch of our sewing class friends and got good news that one of them is starting her own fashion business. When we visited the South Oakland shelter, we came across a little girl who refused to give up her milk and cookies Blanket Wrap to ANYONE. She wore it as a cape and completely owned it! Lastly, Kate and I are looking forward to many more Community Table Events with Mike Diesel and all the other volunteers that work hard to put on a dinner for the homeless every Sunday. This past Monday, we also collaborated with a nonprofit called Be Cool Read Today to contribute 10 of our Blanket Wraps to homeless emergency kits they were making!
On January 21, Kate’s service idea that she proposed to her school came through as a BIG success! Together, MK Blanket Wraps and Royal Oak Middle School Student Council cut and sewed about 120 fleece mittens to give to a local homeless shelter. We had people working on the sewing machines, cutting, pinning, hand sewing, and drawing little hearts on the completed mittens. It was a busy day. That week was FREEZING so we are sure that every single pair went to good use. All of this was done at Royal Oak High School on their MLK Jr. Day of Service. See our Facebook and Instagram for pictures from this day!
While handing out Blanket Wraps at Blessed Hope Christian Church, Kate and I encountered a very smart 11 year-old named Erika who had so many great ideas about how we could improve our Blanket Wraps. She wrote them down on a piece of paper and told us that she would be thinking all day about how she could contribute or make MK Blanket Wraps better. Erika will definitely be a good business woman someday! We loved how intrigued and driven she was to help us that we sent her a personal sewing kit for mittens. Kate and I are excited to see what she does with her own needles, thread, and fabric! If you are reading this Erika, please contact us!
Kate and I could not have accomplished all of the above without the special people who help us out. They too recognize the importance of helping others. We are grateful for all of our donors but would specifically like to thank Mrs. Feldkamp and Ginny Lach. Mrs. Feldkamp contacted and told us that she wanted to help sew Blanket Wraps, so we sent her 15 Blanket Wraps and are excited to see how they turn out when they come back! We are so thankful that she is taking the time to sew for us. The more Blanket Wraps we have to hand out, the more people we help! Next, Kate and I were standing in line to have fleece cut at JOANN when Ginny approached us and asked a common question, “What are you two doing with so much fleece?” We happily responded with saying that we sew Blanket Wraps and hand them out to homeless shelters in Detroit. Kate and I handed her one of our business cards and said that we had recently hit our 550 mark. With little more said than that, Ginny offered to buy ALL our fleece from that trip! We thought it was incredible that she had so much faith in what we were doing just based on what we told her. Ginny hadn’t even gotten a chance to look at our website when she made that offer! Kate and I are so grateful to meet people who put so much faith in us.
Thank you for following us and taking the time to read what we are doing! Our work is never done, so please follow us on Facebook and Instagram to see what/where we will be next. Stay warm! – Mackenzie and Kate
