FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Homeless Memorial Blanket Project
CONTACT
Scott McLarty, 202-878-2112, scott@memorialblanket.org
Homeless Memorial Blanket Project volunteers will carry homemade blankets in the Poor People’s Campaign March on Washington DC on June 18
• Event: Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls, Saturday, June 18 https://www.
• People across the US with sewing, knitting, crocheting, and quilting skills are invited to join the project: Find a state at https://memorialblanket.org
WASHINGTON, DC — Blanket makers participating in the Homeless Memorial Blanket Project will gather in the nation’s capital for a march organized by the Poor People’s Campaign on Saturday, June 18. Project volunteers plan to carry colorful handmade blankets crafted for people experiencing homelessness.
The full name of the event is Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls. It begins at 3rd Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW at 9:30 a.m.
Organizers of the march published this statement: “We Assemble and March on June 18, 2022 because any nation that ignores nearly half of its citizens is in a moral, economic and political crisis. There were 140 million people who were poor or one emergency away from economic ruin before the pandemic. Since March 2020, while hundreds of thousands of people have died, millions are on the edge of hunger and eviction, and still without health care or living wages, billionaire wealth has grown by over $2 trillion.” (https://www.
The Homeless Memorial Blanket Project’s leaders expect volunteers from within and beyond the Washington DC metropolitan area to show up for the march.
The Homeless Memorial Blanket Project is preparing a display of blankets to cover 9,000 square feet of the West Lawn of the US Capitol in Washington, DC on Dec. 21, 2022.
“This project is about more than just the physical act of sewing, knitting, crocheting, and quilting blankets and quilts. It’s about showing how we are all sewn, knitted, crocheted, and quilted together as a human family,” said Rev. Matthew Best, pastor of St. Stephen Lutheran Church, New Kingstown, Pennsylvania.
“We need one another. Just as one strand of material can’t warm a single person, but rather put together with many others, this project gives us the opportunity to see that when we put our efforts together, we can make an impact in the lives of many people across this nation,” said Rev. Best.
Various civic and church groups and individuals involved in the project, which creates, compiles, and distributes blankets to people experiencing homelessness, have been gathering across the US to knit, crochet, and quilt together.
The project has participants in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. The other most active states include Illinois, South Carolina, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Maine, Massachusetts, and Montana.
Volunteers in each state are being asked to make at least 100 blankets, providing ten for the Capitol Lawn display and donating another 90 or more to outreach programs in their area. Typical blankets dimensions are 35″ x 80″ and 60″ x 80″ with a variety of fabrics, fibers, and colors.
The Homeless Memorial Blanket Project is hosted by the Charles Bruce Foundation (https://
Anyone interested in participating in this project can sign up for their state at https://memorialblanket.org.
MORE INFORMATION
Press release: Homeless Memorial Blanket Project, providing homemade blankets for individuals and families without homes, plans display on the West Lawn of the Capitol in DC on Dec. 21
March 16, 2022
Homeless Memorial Blanket Project on Facebook (national group)
To find a state Facebook group, type Homeless Remembrance Blanket and the state’s name in Search
Nonprofit Seeks Artisans Across US to Help the Unhoused
Daily Kos, February 6, 2022
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