Twice a month, busy hands at Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church are working to ensure that no one in the Detroit area goes without a warm blanket this winter.
The Lake Orion chapter of the Warm Up America program meets bimonthly at the church on Waldon Road, knitting squares for adult and baby blankets to be donated to area needy residents. Christ the Redeemer member Virginia Buchanan said she first learned about the program through the Michael’s craft store in Rochester.
“They were doing the program, and I saw a flyer (at Michael’s) so I started making squares for them,” she said. “I would work on them while I was waiting to pick up my children from school…I can get a couple done a day.”
The Warm Up America program was founded by Evie Rosen, who ran a yarn shop in Wausau, Wisconsin. Rosen was frustrated by the plight of the homeless, and started knitting afghans and giving them to people in need. She eventually contacted the Craft Yarn Council for help, and Warm Up America was born.
It takes 49 squares to make a blanket and after Buchanan had 53 squares done she went to take them back to Michael’s.
“But they weren’t collecting them anymore,” she said. “About a year later I saw another flyer there saying they were doing the program again.”
Buchanan visited the Warm Up America website and found they suggested keeping donated blankets in your own area rather then sending them to their warehouse to be stored and then donated.
“So I got a group together at church,” Buchanan said. “We had one lady who brought in four blankets…we usually have 7-8 people who meet regularly at the church.”
The group meets two Thursdays a month from 9:30-11 a.m. to work on blanket squares together. Last year the group was able to make and donate 23 adult size blankets to St. Dominic’s Outreach Center in Detroit. Last year they also made and donated eight baby blankets to the Problem Pregnancy Center in Oxford. This year they donated 11.
The Lake Orion group has been donating blankets there for Warm Up America since March of 2002, after they began meeting at the church in Nov. of 2001.
“We work year round but we don’t meet in the summer,” Buchanan explained. “People don’t have to be a member of Christ the Redeemer to come help. We can always use more hands.”
The group has croquet and knitting needles available and all of their yarn is being donated.
The Warm Up American group will meet next at the church on Nov. 6, and also on Nov. 20 and Dec. 4, from 9:30-11 a.m. The group also plans to meet in 2004 but has not set up those dates yet.
For more information, contact Christ the Redeemer Church at 391-1621. For more information on Warm Up America, visit www.warmupamerica.com.