On Aug. 27, about 55 attendees of Central Park Library’s program “Make Blankets for Kittens” assembled 61 blankets for Humane Society Silicon Valley (www.hssv.org), a non-profit organization that, according to its web site, “offers quality adoptions, affordable spaying/neutering, vaccinations, microchipping services, pet care services, and education programs to enhance the human-animal bond.” The event was organized by Girl Scout Troop 60333, currently comprising of three 14-year-old girls: Hazel Davidson, Riya Katyal and Maya Ridenour. The girls spent the afternoon guiding program attendees through how to make the no-sew blankets.
“The girls are earning their Silver Award—it’s the highest level you can get when you are a Cadette in the Girl Scouts,” said Ruth Davidson, who co-leads the troop with Hayden Ridenour. “The girls are animal lovers. They all love animals and have toyed with the idea of working with animals as a profession. We had to buy all the fleece [for today’s program].”
The task of assembling a blanket involved taking two large rectangular pieces of fleece (one over the other), cutting out small squares from its corners, cutting short slits on the sides to create fringes and then tying the fringes into knots. (The program’s tutorial handout came from www.michiganhumane.org.)
Both kids and parents learned how to make no-sew blankets for Humane Society Silicon Valley’s animals (e.g. kittens, cats, dogs and puppies) to rest and lounge on.
“The Humane Society has to dispose of the blankets after it has been used by a sick animal,” Ruth Davidson said. “Just washing a blanket doesn’t make the germs from some diseases go away. So they just have to get a new one. This is similar to how doctors use needles. You can’t reuse a needle. Once you use a needle, you can’t use it again.”