Homeless Remembrance Blanket Project Newsletter

October 2025 News

No way? Crochet?

That's right! We drew the attention of JJ Crochet who is making us a blanket and sharing our story with the fans! #Memorial Blanket is so cool, icicles must be forming.

Thank you for your keen social media eyes, Max Donnelly, for spotting this outpouring of love for the unhoused from a TikTok influencer with over 65.000 followers.

He has gone a long way to make it cool to crochet!

If you are interested in following his example, whip out those needles, looms, or machines and put your hands toward another artistic outpouring of love for the unhoused. There can never be too many.

If you have been following the press releases of #MemorialBlanket, you already know that the de minimis exemption allowing for products from abroad to be shipped into the United States duty free has been eliminated.

So what does this mean for the Homeless Remembrance Blanket Project? Max Donnelly, a volunteer with lived experience who has been with the Homeless Remembrance Blanket Project since it began points out, "Every year, people around the world handcraft blankets to bring a shred of comfort and dignity in the midst of the tough reality of life without stable housing. But now, because of the tariffs, we’re being forced to pay simply to accept these gifts to distribute them to the very people in our communities who need them most.”

You heard that correctly. WE must pay tariffs, a tax on goods coming into America, to receive hand-made blankets being kindly donated from abroad. Specifically, this affects blankets coming from our dear friends in Australia who have been contributing to the cause for the past few years! Will we pay these onerous taxes? Of course we will. Should these taxes exist? Maybe the better question is, should homelessness be allowed in what is billed as the richest country in America? Obviously, the answer to both questions is the same. Absolutely NOT!

To read the full press release, click on the link below.

In last month's newsletter, we made an impassioned appeal for donations to this year's blanket display taking place in Denver, Colorado. We could not be more thankful to those of you who heard that call and provided some much needed help in response.

While we would love to say that a combination of fiscal responsibility and incoming donations have ended any further need, even the last newsletter story points out that the burden persists.

We still have a special GoFundMe set to expire on #MemorialBlanket founder Pat LaMarche's birthday, November 26. Here’s the link. https://gofund.me/bc570bba.

Would you, could you, please make a donation? $5, $10, whatever… every donation from now until Nov. 26, 2025 (when Pat hits that magic 65 years) will count as a birthday present not only for her, but for the unhoused about whom we all we all care so deeply.

To make it twice as easy to give, we have added a "GoFundMe Blanket Project 2025" button below for you.