I’m hoping you read the first post about our beginnings. This post is a continuation and will focus on Kathy. She’s a bit shy, so I, Leah, will be writing it for her. I assure you I am qualified to do so as her daughter.

Kathy, including step-children, is mom to six and grandmother to eleven. She may be retired from her career, but she is one of the busiest people I know. If she isn’t running after her youngest grandchild, she is quite active with the local American Legion, assisting one of her many siblings,  and until some-what recently, one of the full time caregivers for her mom.

She has been onboard since the beginning. Kathy started by re-learning to knit and crochet. She spent her evening hours making squares while watching TV with her family. Less than a month after Love-Squared became a reality, Kathy’s husband died suddenly. I can’t speak for her too in-depth on this subject, but I think crocheting squares became a task that allowed her to take a mental break while keeping her busy. As the number of squares increased,  she took on the task of putting the blankets together. Kathy can complete at least two blankets to my one.

Kathy’s house became a local drop-off location and is one of the Michigan addresses you all send squares to.  She was receiving so many boxes every day that the mail carrier asked her about them. The mail carrier took some flyers and information to give to her church group. She also suggested that Kathy put a big waterproof tub on the porch and she would just drop the packages there instead of handing them off in person each time. 

Without Kathy and Christie, Love-Squared would have come to an end when my family had to move to Oregon. Her house remains a drop-off and mailing location, she still organizes sorting parties, coordinates with Christie about finished blankets for donation, recruits friends and family to help seam, and gives up a large corner of her garage to house squares and blankets. She hardly ever groans when I come up with a new challenge, which means a lot of work falls on her. We would be lost without her and I can’t thank her enough for taking on an overwhelming amount of work.

How did we begin? I wish I had a great story to tell, but it’s pretty simple. Love-Squared became a reality because I couldn’t find a yarn-based charity that was simple and local. This is the first post in a series about all of us behind the scenes.

My name is Leah. Currently, I work full-time as a plant nursery associate. I live in Oregon with my husband, four active kids, a dog, cats, lizard, and chickens. At the time, I lived in Michigan, was a stay at home parent to four kids who were under eight years old. I had recently learned how to knit so I could make wool pants for my infant. I was looking to branch out a little and charity knitting sounded like a great idea. There are so many yarn-based charities out there. It was a little overwhelming, but also frustrating. It was difficult to find a charity that matched my time and skill level and one that was a bit more local. A lot of the hats for hospitals had stopped taking donations because they had too many. Even more charities were focused on over seas organizations and the high cost of international shipping was a problem. My husband’s solution was, “start your own.”

I thought he was crazy. How was I going to do that? Where would I even begin? I laughed it off, but his words kept popping into my brain and began to take root. Hmmm…what am I passionate about? I’ve always been an advocate for our houseless community members. I started looking for homeless charities in my area and found many for adults. What about homeless kids? Why are there no groups for homeless kids?  Should I start one? Could I start one? I can at least try.

The idea for blankets came from my own kids. All four of them had a blankie. Even my eldest still had his blankie hiding in his room. Blankie was a best friend. It meant comfort, warmth, love, and was often a source of courage. I wanted to give other kids that sense of ownership and friendship. Something to snuggle when things were a little scary or stressful. Something soft and warm that could make them smile. I can do this!

I started knitting. I soon discovered that blankets take a long time to knit. Blankets, even small blankets, took way too long and required too much yarn. I think I got about half finished with the first blanket when I was ready to give up. I’m not sure when I thought of these blankets in terms of a quilt, but it saved the idea. Quilts are made up of smaller, more manageable blocks. I can whip out a few blocks a day and eventually have a whole quilt. Knitted squares would be the same. I could make squares any time and just about anywhere – park, at school pick-up, baseball, etc.

May 11, 2011 was the day Love-Squared became official. I had knit the first square and made an announcement to all of my friends and family on Facebook. My sister Randi sent a stack of snuggly squares from Atlanta and we were moving forward. I got the courage to ask the owner of a local business if they would be a drop-off location for a month. I’ll never forget Jen and her Dragonfly Tea Cottage patrons – This is how I first met the fabulous Christie, but that’s a story to be told soon. I was thinking I’d get maybe 20-30 squares that month. Instead, there were over 100 squares to collect. Jen kept the basket and her customers kept filling it. We began holding knit nights on the big front porch and things took off. Thanks to the Dragonfly and Love-Squared, I had made some wonderful life-long friends.

The squares were piling up, I had to find a place that would take the finished blankets. After many phone calls, unanswered messages and emails from various organizations, Renee at Family House responded. They would love to receive our blankets.  I was giddy with nerves and excitement when I dropped off the first donation of seven blankets.

We have come a long way since 2011. It took two years to reach a goal of 1000 squares in six months. In 2016 we attempted to receive squares from all 50 states. In the end we had reached 27 states, Puerto Rico, two provinces in Canada, and Europe.  Today, we are stuffing squares instead of clothes into closets and giving up entire rooms and garages. We’ve been able to donate 100 blankets annually during the Tent City Toledo event on top of the blankets we still donate to Family House.  We are still growing and still figuring out what comes next.

7 blankets!!

I plan to write about Tent City and 1Matters more in-depth later on, but I have to acknowledge that the annual event was supposed to be this weekend. Covid-19 has made it impossible to gather so many people in one place and keep safe.

Every year hundreds of volunteers come together for the sole purpose of Toledo’s houseless community. According to their own website, last year volunteers served 2,800 meals to around 1,200 people; medical professionals provided 350 people with care; barbers and stylists gave 172 haircuts; and over 200 ID’s and birth certificates were applied for.  Along with the basic needs areas, there are clothing tents, people helping vets and non-vets find services, entertainment, and respect.  The amount of community and compassion that happens over 2.5 days is astounding.

The Love-Squared crew takes 100 blankets every year. It’s always a weekend we look forward to. Not only are we part of the giant community gathered together, we get to see every child light up when they find the blanket that was meant to be theirs. Instead of writing more, and repeating what will be written later on, I will post some of my favorite photos from past Tent City weekends. Maybe you’ll even see some of your own squares in the photos.

More often than not, I interact with you all via facebook or email. Rarely do I get the chance to meet you and thank you in person. Today was one of the rare days. I had the pleasure of meeting up with Mary, at the Randall Children’s Hospital in Portland, Oregon for the Purple Hats Kick-Off. Not only did I get to meet someone I have been emailing back and forth with since February, I got to learn about one of her other projects. As well as knitting squares for us, Mary knits Period of Purple Crying Caps for Click for Babies.

These purple hats bring awareness to those times of an infant’s increased crying, often mis-termed as colic. Not only is this period of time normal, it is also a time when babies are at the highest risk for shaken baby syndrome. I learned more than I could possibly pass on to all of you. I recommend you check it out, learn a bit, and knit or crochet a few hats.