Softening Winter’s Harshness with Blankets

Daylight had faded and the nighttime temperatures dipped below freezing. Believers felt the chill as they ventured onto the dark streets of Asia, carrying thick blankets.

The believers found a family huddled together by the roadside, trying to sleep on the cold concrete. They were from another region of the country and had traveled here to find work. Feeling the cold and seeing the lack of thick clothing, the believers wrapped their thick blankets around the family.

Other believers gave blankets to homeless people trying to sleep on trash-littered sidewalks and streets. Some were curled on sheets of cardboard or under piles of thin blankets. The world these people know is one of cold, helplessness, and rejection. But as the believers stooped down to drape blankets around their shoulders, the homeless caught a glimpse of a world filled with Christ’s compassion and love.

It’s hard for many of us to imagine not being able to buy something as simple as a blanket. Amid starvation, war, and natural disasters, blankets might feel like a small gift with little effect.

While it’s true that a blanket won’t stave off starvation, this gift does meet a crucial need. People who make only a few dollars a day often face a hard decision as winter approaches. Should they spend their limited money to feed their families or to keep them warm? In this context, a thick, quality blanket helps lighten the burden of winter in a tangible way. And beyond warming bodies, giving blankets provides opportunity to meet a need in Jesus’ name.

Gita* sometimes thought she would rather die than continue living in her misery. Her husband’s disability forces her to be the sole provider for her two children. But she often cannot make ends meet and sometimes resorts to begging. Others in her Asian village know her plight, but no one bothers to help. “Rather, they laugh at me,” she says.

Winter is especially hard for Gita. To heat her house at night, she used to make a small fire with straw and sit nearby to catch some warmth.

One day a pastor visited Gita and told her that he wanted to give her a warm blanket. She laughed at him. “No one had come to me and told me such a word throughout my life,” she said. But when the pastor called again on distribution day and Gita saw the blankets, she believed what he said was really true. She exclaimed at the quality of the blanket she received and the care she felt. “I really thank [the pastor] and church from the bottom of my heart,” she said.

Marwa was fervently praying for help. She had fled to Egypt after conflict broke out in her home country of Sudan. Like many Sudanese refugees accustomed to their country’s mild winter, Marwa was unprepared for Egypt’s cold weather. She and many other refugees live in homes with poor protection from the elements.

When our contacts visited Marwa and her five children to deliver a blanket, she told them she had been saving for a long time to buy a blanket. “Your blanket is the answer to my prayer,” she said. “God sent you to help us. Praise God.”

Supporters, thank you for enabling our staff and contacts to purchase and distribute blankets in  Syria, Egypt, Yemen, and other parts of the world. If you wish to support this project as winter approaches, your help will be a blessing!

*Names changed to protect identities.

To help purchase and distribute blankets in various countries, click the donate button to give a gift.