A little boy dreamed up an idea for his seventh birthday party — a charitable activity which has now captured the imagination of the entire city of Greensboro, North Carolina.
August Spitz wanted to help folks who were homeless, and he LOVED building blanket forts. His mom, Gwen, got permission to use a large space at Glenwood Coffee and Books while August asked his friends to bring blankets to help him build a giant fort. After the party was over, the 64 blankets were washed and donated to a local nonprofit that helps the homeless. But the idea didn’t stop there.
She organized an event on Sunday called “The World’s Largest (in Greensboro) Blanket Fort.”
“The kids had so much fun,” Kathleen Edwards, Director of Programs at the Interactive Resource Center, told the Good News Network. “We operate an emergency shelter and warming center whenever the temperatures drop, and this month we can really use the added blankets.”
‘Auggie’ Spitz, now 8, joined with children from 127 other families for the massive fort-building fun, during which 259 blankets were collected.
The adults strung colorful ropes around the room, and the kids used tables and chairs and clothes pins to make the tunnels and rooms.
“Tomorrow morning — in the same room the fort was built in — roughly 220 men and women, and even some children, will come to use IRC services,” said Gwen. “It will be with great pride that we can tell them that the community came together in this phenomenal way to help.”
(SEE more photos of August Spitz and the blanket fort in the News and Record)
Photos courtesy of the IRC Facebook page – Story tip from Kelly Harrington