Skip to content

Realtors Care Blanket Drive collects thousands of items

Donations help an estimated 5,000 people in the Fraser Valley

More than 4,000 bags of warm clothing and blankets were collected from Nov. 16 to Nov. 23 in the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland as part of the 21st annual Realtors Care Blanket Drive.

The donations will help an estimated 5,000 working poor and homeless in Mission, Abbotsford, Langley, Surrey, North Delta and White Rock.

The donations were collected at 35 real estate offices across the Fraser Valley, sorted by 47 volunteers, and delivered directly to 22 local charities.

One of the hallmarks of the Blanket Drive is that all donations remain in the communities in which they were collected. Many recipient charities rely on donations from the Blanket Drive to help them through the winter.

Donations in Abbotsford went to the Salvation Army, Cyrus Centre, 5 and 2 Ministries, Raven’s Moon Resource Society, Village Threads Ministry and the Warm Zone.

While the volume of donations collected this year in the Fraser Valley was less than previous years, realtor volunteers noticed that the quality of the donations was much better.

The Realtors Care Blanket Drive is the largest and longest running campaign of its kind. Since it began in 1994, the program has helped more than 290,000 people.