WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Patty Confer of Linden is hard at work making blankets. Blankets are being made for kids living in rural Alaska after tragedy struck their village last month.
"Our daughter lives in Stebbins, Alaska, and their island had been flooded with a typhoon in September," said Confer. "So, God laid it on my heart when we were flying back from Alaska to make blankets for the children."
Confer's daughter is a teacher at the local school there. The flood displaced many of the villagers. Homes were washed away, and people were forced to live inside the school.
"There was a whole row of homes by the ocean, and all those homes were lost. One hundred fifty people were living at the school and, so, I know my daughter was cooking meals for 150," she said.
In a few weeks, average temperatures in that part of Alaska will be in the teens. So, Confer has set a goal to craft 300 personalized blankets for kids that were affected by the flood.
"My daughter was able to get me the names and the genders of the kids so that we could put a name tag on each blanket and send it up to them," added Confer.
However, it's not cheap. She is in need of money and supplies to craft 1,200 yards worth of blankets.
"The cost of the fleece is like $6,000 for 300," said Confer. "We have costs of the totes, costs of vacuum sealed bags, and the cost of shipping. When we ship a tote up to our daughter, it is about $120 per tote."
She hopes to have the blankets finished and ready to be shipped by the middle of November. Donations can be mailed or dropped off at The Agape Fellowship Church in Williamsport.
If you can't donate money, you can still donate your time. Confer is looking for volunteers to stop by Agape Fellowship Church on East Third Street on October 18th from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. to help craft blankets.
Check out WNEP's YouTube channel.