Blankets delivered to Bradley County EMS. From left, Tyler Shores, Leonard Center with Danny Lawson and Joe Thomason Bradley EMS
Rep. Kevin Brooks has partnered with local charitable organization, Operation Compassion and Lee University’s Leonard Center to help “Blanket Bradley County.” As temperatures continue to drop, hundreds of cases of emergency winter-weather blankets are being distributed by the Lee Leonard Center and its staff.
Operation Compassion, based in Cleveland, is a global disaster relief and emergency organization whose reach encircles the globe, but whose help begins here at home in Bradley County. Local relief assistance is being provided in the areas of homelessness, emergency shelters and emergencies services.
The winter-weather or emergency wool blankets being distributed this holiday week around Bradley County are a wool-blend blanket designed for protection in temperatures below zero. Operation Compassion began this program by receiving blankets from charitable partners and directly from blanket manufacturers in quantities in the thousands.
“Thanks to a successful grant application and award, Operation Compassion now has the capacity to distribute 300,000 – 500,000 blankets along the East Coast, Minnesota, the Dakotas, on Indian Reservations near Gallup, NM and here at home in Tennessee,” states Dave Lorency, OC president.
Rep. Brooks added, “It was an honor to write the letter of recommendation for this grant application for blankets on behalf of Operation Compassion. This organization, based right here in Bradley County, has the potential to reach the world with charitable good and services. I am always thrilled to help them in any way that I can as their local state representative.”
Dr. William Lamb, director of the Leonard Center at Lee University was selected as the local liaison for coordinating the distribution of blankets to Bradley County agencies and organizations. Dr. Lamb says, “Thank you to Operation Compassion and Rep. Kevin Brooks for thinking of the Leonard Center for this blanket project. Between yesterday and today, we delivered 101 cases of blankets.”
Dr. Lamb continued, “We provided the following agencies with enough blankets to put 2-3 per vehicle which will be helpful for them when they are responding to emergency calls in winter conditions:
• Bradley County Fire Department
• Bradley County Sheriff Department
• Bradley County EMS
• Cleveland Fire Department
• Cleveland Police Department
"In addition, we delivered blankets to the Cleveland Emergency Shelter and The Caring Place. I have assured the agencies and emergency responders that we would attempt to provide more blankets in the coming days and weeks if they need more."
Rep. Brooks said, “These blankets will help our friends and neighbors keep warm this winter. I can think of no better way to start this Thanksgiving holiday, than by joining with these incredible organizations to give the gift of a warm blanket. God has blessed Bradley County and it’s a blessing to help give back.”
For more information on Operation Compassion visit: http://www.operationcompassion.org. For more information on the Leonard Center: http://www.leeuniversity.edu/service-learning.
Blankets delivered to Cleveland City Fire Department. From left, William Lamb, Leonard Center with Cleveland city firefighters.