Looking for a family-friendly volunteer activity that you can do at home?
While the weather is cold, our clients living on the streets of Toronto greatly benefit from warm blankets. You can help!
To get started, you’ll need to pick up fleece material that is no smaller than approximately 70” x 36”. Unless you have a sewing machine, you will be unable to make an adequately sized blanket out of smaller pieces of fabric. Each blanket requires TWO same-sized pieces of fleece. We recommend getting two different colours or prints to make a reversible blanket. You will also need quality scissors or fabric shears and we recommend having a pair for each person participating.
You can buy fleece at your location of choice; however, we don’t recommend using Amazon to ensure you receive pieces that are the correct size. Fabricland is a great option as they offer curbside pickup or online delivery.
- Scroll down to the fleece options (or you can CTRL+F to search for “fleece”).
- Follow each section’s instructions for ordering. Pay attention to the size (including width) of the fabric listed. Ensure that each blanket is a “continuous” piece of fabric (i.e. 4m, 2m continuous pieces).
- You can order a very large piece and cut it to size yourself, but we recommend ordering to size as it is easier.
- Pay attention to size (including width) of fabric listed to ensure you purchase enough continuous fabric for each of your blanket pieces.
- It will be easier to order to size rather than order a very large piece and cut it to size yourself, but that is an option as well.
- Ensure both pieces of fabric are lying flat together with their edges lined up.
- Cut a 6” by 6” square out of all four corners of the fabric.
- Mark 1” wide by 6” long down all 4 sides of the rectangle.
- Cut the 1” strips down each side of the rectangle (both layers of fabric).
When you are done all 4 sides of the blanket should look like this:
- Tie each strip like you are closing a balloon (both colours of fabric are in the same knot).
- Continue this down each side of the blanket. Be careful not to pull too tightly or you will lose the shape of the blanket.
You can drop off your finished blankets to Ve’ahavta’s office at 4100 Chesswood Drive, Unit 1, from Monday – Friday between 10am-5pm. Please bring the blankets to the back of the building (first door at the southwest corner), place it beside the door, ring the bell or call 647.407.0981, 416.885.1570, or 437.994.6787, and wait for a staff member to confirm they will receive your donation.
If you’re a high school student collecting volunteer hours, we’d be happy to sign your form. Please send completed forms to the contact info below to be signed.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to volunteer@Veahavta.org for assistance.
