Track how many items have been turned in as of February 29, 2020
Project Warm-Up provides hats, mittens, blankets and other much-needed items to those who are low-income, no-income and homeless in Spokane County. This program involves volunteers who work individually at home and in groups to create warm items which are distributed county-wide to curtail the risk of hypothermia.
Project Warm-Up gives out nearly 16,000 items annually to over 60 local agencies, but the number of total requests is often 20,000 or more! Also, in the past we have often found ourselves with too many of some kinds of items (e.g. hats and scarves) and not enough of others (e.g. blankets and mittens).
In order to help us better meet the needs of our community and fulfill the requests of our partner agencies, starting this year we will be sharing monthly updates about our current numbers of items turned in compared to the anticipated number of requests for each category. Anticipated requests are based on the average number of requests over the past five years. If you are a Project Warm-Up volunteer, you can use this information to help you best plan what kind of projects to work on.
Remember: RSVP can supply yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks and needed patterns. All you need to do is ask!
Primary Item Categories
Primary item categories are the items that are both most frequently contributed and most frequently requested.
It's still early in the year, so at this time, all categories are still in need! Historically, we tend to end up with more hats and lesser amounts of other categories.
Other Item Categories
This section requires a little more explanation. These items don't tend to be contributed nearly as frequently. In prior years, we used to sort slippers, mittens, and sweaters between YOUTH and ADULT sizes. This year, we've stopped doing that, largely because a) we don't receive enough items to justify separate categories, and b) there can be a lot of overlap between items that will fit a youth and items that will fit an adult. Please note that the "5 Year Averages" for slippers, mittens, and hats are the combined totals of "Youth" and "Adult" requests, which break down as follows:
Slippers (this includes socks, stockings, footies, etc.): 861 Youth, 778 Adult
Mittens (pairs): 1277 Youth, 1685 Adult
Sweaters: 749 Youth, 1202 Adult
Miscellaneous items include the following:
Towels/dish cloths
Scrubbies/washcloths/hot pads/pot holders
Walker/wheelchair bags
Purses
Stuffed animals
For more information, please contact Teri Wallace at (509) 344-7787 or twallace@ymcainw.org.