September 2022 Aragon Cares: Blankets for Comfort for Critters
Happy Autumn! With the oncoming cooler weather, it’s a perfect opportunity to stay inside and make cozy blankets for animals in shelters.
Many animals can get stressed out from being rescued and placed into a new environment. Shelters can add to the stress as animals endure new noises, smells, people, and other animals. In addition, their spaces might not be comfortable with most confined to small spaces with minimal amenities.
To help relieve the stress and anxiety, blankets are a great way to provide the animals with comfort and warmth. It can help them transition through changes by providing a sense of familiarity from the shelter to their forever home.
Cats and kittens tend to be highly impacted by environmental changes, which can cause harmful behaviors, like aggressiveness, avoidance, and mood changes. Plus, cats love snuggling up to anything that’s soft and warm!
This month for Aragon Cares, the Aragon team worked together to make blankets for kittens and cats! We participated in the Comfort for Critters’ blanket donation program by using their step-by-step guide to make tied fleece blankets for the local shelter they support, Cat Welfare Advocates, San Jose.
Comfort for Critters
Comfort for Critters is an organization based in Illinois that donates handmade pet blankets to shelters across the U.S. and sells e-books to help others make their own blankets.
As of September, they have donated over 150,000 pet blankets! Many of the blankets are created by volunteers that send them to Comfort for Critters who will then ship them out to shelters free of charge.
The organization was started by Linda Kastiel Kozlowski who, after adopting her kitten “Anna,” was motivated to help the other pets she could not bring home. Instead of fulfilling the usual donation of towels, she decided to crochet blankets for dogs and cats. Kozlowski wanted to create something that would provide comfort and familiarity – the blankets would move with the pets from the shelter to their new home.
Because Comfort for Critters is based in Illinois, they encourage those out-of-state to donate blankets to local shelters instead of mailing them in. They have a list of organizations in every state and can be contacted to see which ones are in high demand for pet blankets. Their list led us to Cat Welfare Advocates of San Jose!
Cat Welfare Advocates (San Jose)
Cat Welfare Advocates is a nonprofit organization in Silicon Valley dedicated to helping cats and people that care about them. They were founded in 2017 to help the community of abandoned cats and kittens. They also provide assistance to families and cat colony caregivers.
As an organization they have over 50+ years of combined experience with animal rescue. They help kittens and cats find the best environment through foster care and adoption to prevent them from ending up in crowded shelters.
How We Helped
Cat Welfare Advocates mentioned that “kitten season was in full bloom”, so we got to working on making tie blankets. All we needed to get started were fleece fabric from our local crafts store and fabric scissors. We even got cute Fall themed fleece with cat prints to get in the spirit!
After all the supplies were set, we gathered up the Aragon team, those remote and in-person, to create tied, fleece blankets using Comfort for Critters’ instructions.
We divided the tasks with some of us shaping and cutting the fleece and others tying the ends together. After our blanket making session, we successfully made 11 blankets! One large blanket and 10 small ones for all the cats and kittens.
How You Can Help
This was a great way to bond as a team and support local and out-of-state organizations, in addition to helping provide comfort and care for pets in need.
You can go to Comfort for Critters’ website and check out what local organizations in your area are in need of pet blankets. Use their page for shelters in your state or contact them directly to find out which shelters are most in need of blankets in your area.
Once you have a place picked out, grab some fun fleece fabric and get to creating homemade blankets for pets in need. In addition to fleece, Comfort for Critters provides patterns for those who enjoy crocheting and knitting.
Aragon Cares are monthly activities focused on giving back to the community.
You can check out all our past Aragon Cares activities here!
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| August 2022: DonorsChoose |
July 2022: Love For Our Elders |
June 2022: No Kid Hungry |
