Cambria County Library needs volunteers for special project

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WTAJ) — The Cambria County Library needs your help to complete a special assignment. The library is doing the Overseas Military Baby Blanket Project, which provides blankets to babies who are overseas with their families who are in the military.

“Those kids that are overseas, those babies that are born overseas, they’re away from their families. They just have their American immediate family with them on the base. So they’ve got grandparents over here. It’s just a great way, I think, to honor their sacrifice of no longer being in our country, being overseas and protecting our interests from there,” Amanda Hooper, Coordinator of the Baby Blanket Project said.

Before the blankets are sent overseas, they need to be completed.

Instead of sewing the blankets, the library has taken a different approach by using knots. In order for a knot to be complete, it needs to be tied twice.

The staff at the library are also helping with the project.

“I have tied some knots on the blanket. It feels good to just be able to do something that’s so simple and quick and know where it’s going to and how it’s going to be used,” Leah Johncola, Children’s Coordinator at the library said.

Last year when the program first started at the library, the blankets went to military families in Germany. The project started out as a way to encourage kids to help other kids, but now they have adults who want to lend a hand.

“This military baby blanket project is part of us empowering the community to be able to help others out there in the world. So that’s an important part of our mission. We’re trying to just incorporate our mission into all the programming that we’re doing here this summer at the library,” Johncola said.

The blankets are kept in the children’s department and the library plans to reach their goal by July 20.

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If you would like to volunteer for the project, you can contact the library at (814) 536-5131, or stop by when they’re open. The library is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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