The Blanket Project St. Louis

Hello all,

Like most American cities, St. Louis is home to many homeless people. How many? According to the Department of St. Louis - Human Services Division, there were 1,328 people without a place to call home in the winter of 2014. These included men, women and veterans alike. Each is someone’s sister or brother, someone’s childhood best friend, someone’s mother.

As we are all well aware, wintertime is the most biologically dangerous time to live without shelter. Safety and crime aside, the cold persists to even the most armed homeless person.

We are Robin Marquand and Logan McDowell. Currently living in the heart of downtown St. Louis, we have been personal witnesses to the unfortunately large population of homeless people here in this city we also call home. Both of us share a significant concern for not only the general direction of poverty and homelessness here in America, but for the individuals who are forced to live this reality day by day. To put it shortly, we, like so many others, feel that if we CAN do something to help, we NEED to. “We do because we can, because we must” the saying goes. Even if what we do is small in the grand scheme of things.

The Blanket Project, founded by Taylor Bradley in Grand Junction Colorado, aims to provide as much warmth as possible to homeless people by giving out blankets to those who lack shelter. We are glad to say that we have teamed up with Taylor in this task by opening a new chapter of The Blanket Project in St. Louis. Taylor began this idea when she was interviewing and photographing local homeless people for a class project. During this, she was touched by the sense of family and community these people beheld, a desire to take care of eachother. We love that Taylor chose to continue this sense of community by reaching out to people who, although may not have ever been homeless, are willing to give a little warmth to those who are right now.

Although a blanket will not solve the larger problem of homelessness, it is a very effective way to help someone through the winter. Like Taylor, we aim to learn about these people as people (not just as “homeless people”), learn their stories, and hope they feel our highest respect through these donations.

We genuinely and wholeheartedly hope to help people by spreading this project from Colorado to Missouri. The Blanket Project has already opened another successful chapter in San Francisco and we are so excited to spread the warmth even further. Any and all donations go a long way, and we are all so grateful for any support that is given to the project!

Have a warm holiday season,

Robin and Logan