Volunteers 'warm up' local homeless

This winter more than 50 families will be warmer thanks to the efforts of Warm Up Bloomington, an organization committed to helping the area's homeless. \nWarm Up Bloomington volunteers are knitting afghans for Shelter Inc., a local homeless shelter. More than 50 people have volunteered their services, from knitting separate squares to helping teach others how to crochet. \nThe afghans will be given to Shelter Inc. at a celebration ceremony on Nov. 30 at the Monroe County Public Library. Local celebrities will model the afghans, and executives from Shelter Inc. will be on hand to make a short speech.\nCraig Howertown, executive director of Shelter Inc., said he is delighted with the work of the volunteers.\n"It really shows what the community can do for the homeless," Howertown said.\nHowertown said the afghans will be distributed to the shelters around the town, and that each family receiving an afghan will be able to keep it.\n"It helps to boost individual dignity," Howertown said. "It will be something special for them -- a reminder that people care." \nWarm Up Bloomington was created in July after Judith DeMilo, a Bloomington resident, took a trip to Michael's Crafts. \n"I saw the project sheet for Warm Up America and thought that would be a great thing to start here," DeMilo said. "I asked Michael's if they would donate some yarn, and they agreed."\nDeMilo began with a goal of 50 afghans, but says the group should be able to complete close to 60 afghans. \nEach afghan has a name and a different color scheme. Some quilts will be donated too, thanks to a mistake by a reporter in a recent Herald--Times article.\n"The reporter used the word quilts, instead of afghans," DeMilo said. "So I started getting responses from quilt makers in the community. Now, we've added a Quilt Out on Nov. 9 to the agenda."\nMaking an afghan is not a quick project, DeMilo said. The afghans are composed of 49 seven-inch by nine-inch blocks. Depending on a person's skill level, it can take an hour to make just one square. That's 49 hours to make all of the blocks for the afghan. Then the blocks must be crocheted around and joined together. If three people are working, it will take two to three hours to do three blocks. That is another 48 hours. Then a border is crocheted around the joined squares, usually by one person, which takes another five hours. That makes a grand total of 102 hours.\nNot every volunteer is involved in each step. Many people just knit single squares and drop them off at one of four locations. DeMilo picks up the squares and determines which afghan they will be joined to. \nThen she said she has joining parties, like those held last Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Michael's. The group sat near the front of the store, knitting and chatting to customers.\n"Most people were really interested in what we were doing," DeMilo said. "I tried to convince them to sit down and knit, but they wouldn't."\nAlthough only a handful of volunteers showed up, DeMilo said they were able to get four afghans close to completion. \nShelley Scott, who works in the Slavic Department office at IU, helped piece together a red, white and blue afghan named "America" at Sunday's joining party. She said she helped contribute to the design and felt a lot was accomplished.\n"As my neighbor and I were leaving, I turned to her and said, 'We did good,'" Scott said. \nScott joined the effort after seeing an advertisement for a workshop in The Herald-Times. \n"I wanted to do something for the community," Scott said. "I do volunteer work through my church, but I don't feel that's for the community at large." \nShe relearned to knit -- after a 17 year break -- and also got her neighbor involved. Scott said her knitting wasn't perfect, but emphasized that it didn't matter.\n"Some pieces are odd shaped, but the volunteers can take them and make them into something beautiful," she said.\nDeMilo said volunteers and squares are still needed. Any squares donated before Nov. 20 will be guaranteed a spot in an afghan.