Students stage blanket drive

College project spurs action to help homeless

MICHAEL BURNHAM, THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- A group of students at South Puget Sound Community College is working with Community Youth Services to collect 1,000 blankets by March 1.

While five students in the community college's Small Group Communication class will receive a grade for spearheading the project, CYS will receive the new or used blankets.

Blankets may be dropped off at South Sound businesses and will be distributed within Thurston County through CYS's street outreach program. Other drop-off locations include CYS, KRXY radio and The Olympian.

CYS is a downtown Olympia-based organization that operates 17 programs, including youth employment and juvenile diversion programs, and an emergency shelter for troubled teens. The street outreach program provides crisis intervention counseling for homeless youths.

"This will make a direct impact," said SPSCC freshman Joshua Roberts, a former CYS AmeriCorps member. "We want to 'blanket the community with warmth;' that's our slogan."

As of Monday, the group had taken in about 25 blankets.

Students will also solicit businesses for blankets and monetary donations, Roberts said.

"The most recognized need at this time is homeless youth," said CYS Marketing Director Suzann Stahl.

According to a study released by the state Department of Social Health Services last week, about 2,530 adults and children in 750 families statewide were helped by homeless shelters nightly between late June and late December 2000.

Two-thirds of the families were headed by one adult, usually a woman, while couples with children constituted the remainder. Each family had an average of two children living with them at the shelter, and almost 30 percent of the families had at least one child living elsewhere.

In addition to the blanket drive for area homeless, the owner of Ben Franklin Crafts outlets in Olympia, Lacey and Gig Harbor is collecting non-perishable food items as part of a liquidation effort.

Food collected at the Gig Harbor store will be distributed to the Pierce County Food Bank. The Olympia and Lacey stores will give donations to the Thurston County Food Bank, which distributes food to needy families three days each week, on Friday. The food drive will end Feb. 9.

Two-thirds of the 3,500 food items raised so far will be given to the Thurston County Food Bank, said Ben Franklin consultant Roger Baldwin.

"Heavy need is becoming a constant," said Jan Putnam, executive director of Thurston County Food Bank.

The food bank provided food for about 45,000 people in 2001 -- a 17 percent increase over 2000. About half of the 2001 clients were children, Putnam said.

"The fact that (Ben Franklin) is still helping people, even though they're going out of business, is a nice gesture," Putnam added.

Michael Burnham covers Olympia for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-704-6869.

Donations

South Puget Sound Community College students are collecting new and used blankets for Community Youth Services through March 1 at the following locations:

- Community Youth Services, 711 State Ave. N.E., Olympia, 360-943-0780

- KRXY-FM 94.5 radio, 2124 Pacific Ave. S.E., Olympia, 360-236-1010

- The Olympian, 111 Bethel St. N.E., Olympia, 360-754-5400

- For more information, call 360-493-1346.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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