Sharing warmth: blankets going to homeless

• Helping the homeless

A group of 120 people made up of Woodbury Women of Today members and New Life Academy students completed 50 tie blankets on Nov. 17. The group is hoping to complete a total of 200 blankets to be donated to homeless shelters throughout the Twin Cities.

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A group of Woodbury women and students from New Life Academy are hoping to give a little warmth this holiday season.

Woodbury Women of Today has teamed up with New Life Academy to make 200 tie blankets that will be donated to homeless shelters throughout the Twin Cities.

A group of 120 people came together Nov. 17 to work on the blankets. A total of 50 blankets were completed in 2 ½ hours.

In addition to the 50 completed blankets, another 140 are currently in the works, Woodbury Women of Today President Jacquie Urquia said.

“It’ll be interesting to see how many we end up with,” Urquia said.

Woodbury Women of Today is a chapter of Minnesota Women of Today. Minnesota Women of Today is a women's organization focused on the betterment of the community.

“It’s an organization that does things throughout the community to try and help other organizations and basically feel-good community activities,” Urquia said.

The idea for the blanket project was brought to the group after a member suggested doing something for the homeless for Christmas, Urquia said.

“The nice thing about Women of Today is that you’re not tied to any one charity,” she said. “You can do whatever project is in your heart.”

As part of Woodbury Women Today, members are tasked with several goals such as “Community Connections” and “Youth of Today.”

Urquia said this project would be a great opportunity to get youth involved, and since her daughter attends New Life Academy, she decided to contact the school.

“The whole goal of ‘Youth of Today’ is to help train future leaders in the world,” she said. “We need people to do good within our community.”

Urquia said it is important to get youth involved with the community.

“It shows youth that as you go through life you want to do more than just stuff for yourself,” she said. “It shows them that you can do more throughout your community.

“You can say it, but if you don’t do it, it doesn’t mean much.”

For the project, Woodbury Women of Today collected monetary and fabric donations from businesses and individuals.

Initially Woodbury Women of Today had set the goal of completing 500 tie blankets, but after last week’s progress, it was clear 500 was too lofty of a goal, Urquia said.

“Even if we don’t hit 500, at least we’re hitting a large goal,” she said. “If anything, I know we’re going to have a nice amount. We are very pleased with the accomplishment.”

Urquia said Woodbury Women of Today have already started talking about making the blanket project and annual thing.

“Everyone has loved the project and hopes we do it again,” she said.

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