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Michigan Teenager Sells Coffee to Buy Blankets for the Homeless During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Samuel VerHage from Van Buren County started Samuel’s Blankets in 2015. Samuel was only 9 years old when he “wanted to do something to help the homeless stay warm in the winter,” reads the organization’s website.
Samuel’s Blankets would set up drop boxes in local businesses where people can donate blankets.
Sharing recently told WWMT-TV how he got the idea for the blanket drive. “I saw some homeless people sleeping on a bench, and I thought to myself, ‘They might be cold in the winter.’”
Doing Something to Help
"I saw some homeless people sleeping on a bench, and I thought to myself, they might be cold," Samuel VerHage of Van Buren County said.@wwmtnews https://t.co/9baewQTey1
— Hannah Knowles (@HannahknowlesTV) October 10, 2020
Samuel, now 14, is helping the homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic by raising money through selling coffee.
“We weren’t going to be able to put the big drop boxes in the businesses and take the used blankets like we had in the past,” said Denise VerHage, Samuel’s mother. “We weren’t comfortable with it,” she also said. “And we knew the businesses wouldn’t be comfortable with it, we didn’t even want to ask them to do that.”
With that, Samuel teamed up with local coffee shop Van Buren Coffee Company.
Josh Gettig, the owner of the coffee company, had something to say regarding the project. He said, “I think every family at some point or another has fallen on hard times. If we can just be a small little catalyst to help those people.”
WWMT-TV explained that Van Buren Coffee Company had helped Samuel’s Blankets in the past with a special blanket blend coffee. “However, since in 2020 the charity won’t collect blankets because of the pandemic, only sales of the blend and online donations are being used to buy blankets to provide for the homeless,” the report said.
For every sale of a bag of blanket blend through December 5, 2020, four dollars will be used to buy blankets for the homeless.
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