Blanket drive is compassion and care in action

Thanks to a remarkable collaboration between Rekord, SPAR, and The Big Blanket Project, 400 blankets found their way to those most in need during the My SPAR My Community campaign, offering not just physical warmth but a gesture of deep humanity.

This winter collaboration in August included the Kopano Lerato Project, a beacon of hope in Winterveldt, situated 55km northwest of Pretoria.

Serving a community of over 300 000 people, many of whom live in extreme poverty, Kopano supports families affected by HIV, especially orphans and vulnerable children.

Their services stretch from home-based care and HIV counselling, to TB screening, and assistance with gender-based violence. The project also promotes self-sustainability, encouraging households to grow vegetables, often in creative doorframe gardens that bloom with life.

When Rekord approached The Big Blanket Project with the generous donation from SPAR as part of their My SPAR My Community campaign, they asked: “Can your network help us reach those who need these most?”

Without hesitation, the answer was yes.

As Carol Bunn, founder of The Big Blanket Project, puts it: “You increasingly see the need on the news to help, and you know all those social needs are growing and accelerating. It is deeply distressing. You feel the very real need to help.”

The Big Blanket Project started just three years ago with a single friend’s wish to make a difference. Now, it includes more than 30 dedicated knitters, mostly retired women, who meet every Monday morning at the Pretoria Old Boys Club in Pretoria east.

They bring with them not just needles and yarn, but a spirit of friendship, laughter, and purpose.

Together, they have created not just blankets, but a movement of goodness and kindness.

This powerful network ensured that blankets reached multiple registered projects during the SPAR outreach, including the Tshwane Leadership Foundation’s shelters and homes, the organisation PEN’s inner-city outreach, and the Sisters of Mercy-run women’s shelter in Capital Park.

At this shelter, home to women and their children fleeing abuse, 21 blankets were delivered, along with a big bag of lovingly knitted toys and tiny beanies.

The shelter, known for its dignity and warmth, also runs a thriving vegetable garden and provides skills training in hairdressing, sewing, and nail care.

Sisters of Mercy expressed their heartfelt thanks to Bunn: “Thank you so much for your very generous donation of blankets and the lovely knitted toys. Thank you, too, for visiting the shelter.”

More blankets made their way to PEN’s homeless shelters across Pretoria, including Sunnyside.

In the capital city, nearly 20 000 people live without secure shelter. PEN, through its outreach and reintegration services, offers more than just beds; it offers a path forward.

Here, the management said the blankets mean safety on a cold night, and become a barrier between hardship and hope.

At the Tshwane Leadership Foundation, where inner-city homes and complexes support the most vulnerable, the blankets became more than gifts. They became symbols of solidarity, of a city showing up for its own.

From the first stitch to the last delivery, this blanket drive was a living thread of community in action.

While wool warmed bodies, it was the connection that warmed hearts.

– The Big Blanket Project is a registered NPO. Any offers of donations of wool, needles, crocheted or knitted squares, as well as cash donations to buy wool, can be made via WhatsApp to Carol Bunn at The Big Blanket Project: 082 373 6206. Collection boxes are at The Toy Shop in Rodericks Road (Menlo Park), Cash Converters (Gift Acres) and Hazelwood Food Market.

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