EVERETT — Donna Hagebusch still has her security blanket. The 30-year-old Everett woman sleeps with it every night.
Knowing what comfort her blanket brings to her is one of the reasons that Hagebusch is a member of The Women’s Guild, a small group of women who knit and crochet blankets and hats for the women and children who live at Everett Gospel Mission.
“They call me the yarn pusher,” said group leader BJ O’Riley of Snohomish. “We have yarn, and we’re not afraid to use it.”
The idea took wings when O’Riley decided to create a community service project. She knew how to crochet and began working with her own personal stash of yarn.
Karen Fay and Laura Robeck, both of Everett, joined the group and spun the yarn to their maximum abilities: They put listings on The Freecycle Network and Craigslist asking for donations and volunteers. That’s when Operation Security Blanket grew.
“Not only did we get yarn but we got more people,” Fay said. “We’ve got 16 members doing it.”
A 12-year-old girl from Seattle became so enthusiastic that she has rallied 15 friends and invited them to a get-together where O’Riley will teach them how to crochet.
“We will supply the yarn,” O’Riley said. “We want little satellite groups.”
The smaller groups would help many others in outlying areas such as east Snohomish County, said Sylvia Anderson, chief executive at Everett Gospel Mission.
“The most important thing is that some of the people who come here come with what they have on,” Anderson said.
Staff at both the men and women’s facilities have seen many people new to homelessness in recent months. Much of that has to do with people losing jobs and homes, and discovering that the road back to employment is longer than anticipated. They often are scared and tend to think of a shelter as a place where people are struggling with addiction or other issues.
“They come to find out that it’s a warm family environment,” Anderson said.
The structure in the shelter helps families to gather new tools for rebuilding their lives. Anderson and her staff make sure that children remain in the school they came from and provide homework time and meals.
Children often miss their toys and blankets that may be left in their former home or stored away where parents aren’t always able to get to them. The security blankets from The Women’s Guild are important to the children; they hold onto them and don’t have to leave them.
“It becomes very important,” Anderson said. “It’s their sense of connection.”
O’Riley and others in the group want the families at Everett Gospel Mission to know that they care.
“We’re just a paycheck away from this,” O’Riley said.
On a mission to help
The Everett Gospel Mission has facilities for men and women, and women with children. The organization hopes to create more space for another 25 women and children, adding to the space for 75 currently at the Everett facility.
Accommodations are at full capacity, and approximately 700 families are on a waiting list for shelter housing.
In Snohomish County, 66 percent of homeless people are white, 14 percent are African-American, 7 percent are Hispanic, 7 percent are American Indian and 6 percent are categorized as “other.” Of homeless women, 92 percent experience severe assault in their lifetime, 60 percent of those before the age of 12.
It can take up to four years to secure housing for people in need in Snohomish County.
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