MK Blanket Wraps & ROMS Student Council 2019 MLK Jr. Day of Service “Mittens for the Homeless Project”
On Monday, January 21, 2019, Royal Oak Middle School Student Council, in partnership with MK Blanket Wraps, will be participating in the first ever ROMS Student Council “Mittens for the Homeless Project” on MLK Jr. Day of Service.
What is MK Blanket Wraps?
MK Blanket Wraps was cofounded 3 years ago by sisters Kate Martin, 8th grader at ROMS, and Mackenzie Martin, 10th grade. Mackenzie and Kate wanted to do something to help the homeless so we designed a blanket wrap pattern. Since 2016, we have cut, sewn and handed out over 500 blanket wraps to people living on the street and in homeless shelters in Detroit such as: Genesis House, Detroit Youth and Dog Rescue, ChristNet, South Oakland Shelter, and Welcome Inn. The blanket wraps are a large shoulder wrap made of colorful, warm fleece. They also have large pockets in the inside to keep hands warm.
MK Blanket Wraps is always looking for ways to help the homeless and get more young people involved in service. Since the blanket wraps take more time and skill to sew, we came up with a fleece mitten project. Mittens are quick to cut and sew allowing a group like ROMS Student Council to finish a lot of mittens in a short time (we only have 3 hours!)
How will ROMS Student Council Members be participating?
Students have signed up to work STATIONS. Each station has a specific job to get the mittens done. From start to finish, each pair of mittens takes about 10-15 minutes to complete.
STATION #1: Tracing and Cutting
With the generous donations of ROMS Student Council members, we will be buying fleece to make the mittens. Using a pattern, students will trace out the mittens on the fleece and cut them out.
STATION #2: Sewing
MK Blanket Wraps has 6 Brother sewing machines they use to teach classes at homeless shelters. On Saturday, January 19th, students who are signed up for this station will take a three hour course, taught by Kate and Mackenzie, on how to use a sewing machine. These students must learn to sew BEFORE Monday so they are ready to sew mittens on Monday!
STATION #3: Tying Gloves together and Drawing on a Heart
After the gloves are sewn, students at this station will turn the gloves right side out, paint a heart on them and tie them together.
OUR GOAL:
To sew 100 pairs of mittens to donate to warming or homeless shelters on behalf of ROMS Student Council.
If you are at Royal Oak High School on Monday, January 21 for the MLK Jr. Day of Service, please stop by and see what we are doing! The MLK Jr. Day of Service starts on 7:45am at Royal Oak High School. For more information, please visit: https://www.romi.gov/998/MLK-Service-Day.
For more information on MK Blanket Wraps, please visit www.mkblanketwraps.org.
