One of the continent’s biggest annual blanket drives will appear once more next week at Canada Line stations in Richmond and Vancouver.
On Friday and Saturday (Nov. 18 and 19), the Blanket BC Society is hosting "Drive on the Line" at Waterfront, Yaletown-Roundhouse, Vancouver City Centre, Broadway/City Hall, Oakridge/41st, Marine Drive, Bridgeport, Lansdowne, and Richmond Brighouse stations.
In 11 previous drives, the non-profit — which started 17 years ago with a donation of a blanket to a homeless man — has handed out more than 550,000 blankets to date to shelter programs, First Nations communities and families in need, with more than 20,000 shipped to other countries around the world.
However, Blanket BC is in desperate need of volunteers for next week’s big push at the Canada Line stations, according to its co-founder Greg Ould.
The two-day drive normally has about 200 volunteers — ranging from individuals to families to corporate teams — collecting donations from passengers and the public alike.
The most requested donations are socks, scarves, mittens, toques and, of course, blankets.
All donated items are then divided up and distributed to more than 100 shelter programs and organizations that work directly with society’s most impoverished individuals and families throughout Metro Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast.
You can sign up to volunteer via the Blanket BC website.
