Blanket Brigade covers neediest families, warms all hearts

Guest author: Tamar Orvell

We were loading and distributing, and we were
like small kids having fun. (Bishnu Odari)

Bishnu Odari
The night before, Birendra and Kamal had made a list of the needy people in each apartment complex. In the morning, I went with Pabitra and other teens to get the 220 blankets that had been delivered to Lisa's and Robert's garage, in Duluth.

The blankets were packed in cartons and stored in one room. We took each carton, opened the top, and separated the blankets by each apartment complex, took the number we needed (using the list), and loaded them into separate cars. We left the cartons there.

Nirmala and I drove with Sanjay to Northchase Apartments in Chamblee. We had seven blankets for them. And we called one woman there, and she knew all the people, and each family came out, and we met them at their apartment. They were excited and so thankful. We gave only to needy people who are new. They don't know how cold it is here. They arrived this summer and fall. It was the first time I met them. I like to work this way, helping people and distributing.

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Kamal Dahal
Today's delivery was a great success. It was such great help from all who coordinated to distribute this very basic thing. Your coordination, support, and expense of valuable time is really fascinating. This grand distribution helped needy people who were suffering from cold and lack of resources to get some warmth. This great job obviously gets rewards of blessings from the families who were in trouble. Thank all of you who directly and indirectly helped a lot to get this task done perfectly.

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Leslie Sokolow
I was so impressed with how things went. I felt euphoric the rest of the day. Such beautiful blankets will last a lifetime! Pabitra coordinated the deliveries superbly with the cars loaded in less than an hour. Thanks to you, Pabitra, and to everyone else who came and threw their hearts and muscles into making this happen.

DRIVERS
Bill Tynan, Elizabeth Hill, Jeff Sokolow, Jen Murphy, Leslie Sokolow, Mita Patel, Narayan Katel, Pabitra Rizal
, Robert Willis, Sanjay Dahal
, Sarman Samal, Swadesh Katoch, Tek Thapa

TEENS
Bhima Thapa, Birendra Odari, Bishnu Odari, Chakra Subedi, Chandra Neopane (Charlie), Hari Timsina, Kamal Dahal, Lalita Thapa , Nirmala Regmi, Sanita Thapa, Tilchand Mapchhan (Mark), Tula Mapchhan, Yan Neopane

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Pabitra Rizal

Hello Atlanta Bhutanese Refugee Support Group,

Kudos to all for making the blanket distribution event a great success! You wholeheartedly helped needy Bhutanese families.

To Lodgian, [hotel owner/operator company] for donating the blankets: You have earned our immense gratitude. Your blankets will definitely keep our people warm even in severe Atlanta winters. May you make continued progress with all our blessings and good wishes.

To CDC volunteers and others, for your generous help to our community: Special thanks. Your initiative to set up the blanket donation campaign is highly appreciated. I have not enough words to express my gratitude adequately. Special thanks to Leslie, Lisa, Robert, and Tamar for meeting our great need at a difficult time. and to Lisa and Robert for providing storage in their home for the blankets until the distribution.

To the volunteer drivers who missed their Sunday leisure to help us to drop the blankets in various apartments: Thanks from the bottom of my heart.

To the volunteer teens from Druid Hills High School and Stone Mountain High School (Lalita): You deserve my deepest appreciation. You guys are awesome. You did a marvelous job beyond our expectation. You took the novel initiative to collect names of blanket recipients from various apartments, loaded the blankets into cars, guided drivers to different apartments, and distributed the blankets. Thanks for being with us till the end.

To everyone: Your work was appreciated by everyone. I got many calls from many people. I anticipate your generous support in the days to come. I hope we all will be together for a cause like this again. Together we can make a difference.

Thank you on behalf of the Bhutanese Community of Georgia.