SU’s Students Offering Service combats winter chill with ‘Share the Warmth’ blanket drive

SU’s Students Offering Service combats winter chill with ‘Share the Warmth’ blanket driveJanuary 30, 2003Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

Students Offering Service (SOS), a program in Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel, will sponsor its seventh annual “Share the Warmth” blanket drive on the SU campus from Feb. 1-14.

The “Share the Warmth” committee is collecting new blankets, old blankets in good condition and monetary donations. Blankets can be dropped off at the following locations on campus: The Alibrandi Catholic Center; Crouse College, Room 200; the Department of Nutrition, 034 Slocum Hall; the Department of Social Work, 327 Sims Hall; the Hall of Languages, Room 401; the SU Health Center; the information desk on the second floor of Maxwell Hall; the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, 227 Sims Hall; SUNY ESF’s Moon Library; the Hendricks Chapel Noble Room; Booth, Haven, Lawrinson, Sadler and Watson residence halls; the School of Management Visitor’s Center, the Crouse-Hinds School of Management Bldg., Suite 100; the Shaffer Art Building and the Tennity Ice Skating Pavilion on South Campus.

Blankets and monetary donations will also be collected at the SU women’s basketball games at Manley Field House on Feb. 1 and 8. A table will be set up in the Schine Atrium on Feb. 12 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to collect monetary donations; donations of money may also be brought to the Hendricks Chapel Dean’s Office or the Alibrandi Catholic Center.

Collected blankets will be donated to the following organizations within the Syracuse community: Vera House, the Samaritan Center, the Chadwick House, Unity Kitchen, the Eastern Farmworkers Association, the InterReligious Council of Central New York, the Ida Benderson Center, the Migrant Farmworkers Advocacy Group and the Refugee Resettlement Group. Monetary donations will go to Church World Service, who in turn will provide blankets to people in need overseas. In the past, blankets have been provided to earthquake survivors in Western India and El Salvador.

Jennifer Barone, a junior in the College of Visual and Performing Arts and the chair of this year’s “Share the Warmth” committee, says the recent bitter cold weather has made the need for blankets even more urgent.

“I believe that this is project is more important than ever right now, considering the brutal cold we have been experiencing,” she says. “Not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to grab a blanket when they are cold, so we are asking that people donate a blanket to help ‘share the warmth.’ Hopefully we can help keep people warm during this cold winter.”

For more information on the blanket drive, contact SOS at 443-2901.