Coaldale’s Blankets For Canada searching for a new home

Sunny South News Photo by Kristine Jean. BLANKETS FOR CANADA: Blankets For Canada Coaldale chapter coordinator and group founder Nellie Slingerland works on a blanket during the group’s weekly meet-up at her home in Coaldale. Slingerland and her husband are moving in the near future and are helping search for a new home for the Blankets For Canada Coaldale chapter.

By Kristine Jean
Sunny South News

Twenty years after starting up in Coaldale, the local chapter of Blankets For Canada is searching for a new home. 

The Coaldale “Blankets For Canada” (BFC) group has been making blankets for charities for the past 19 years. Last year alone, they gave 200 blankets to the Lethbridge headquarters, which are distributed as needed, to various charities and organizations across southern Alberta. 

“People crochet and they knit and they all come together. We have this great stash of selection,” said Gerry Dyck, who has been with BFC for 10 years. “We make it into an elegant art piece.” 

Over the years, they have given to such groups and organizations as the Red Cross, YWCA, area hospitals, shelters, drop-in centres, nursing homes and various agencies that support family services and immigrant services. To date, as of June 12, 2025, the Coaldale Blankets For Canada group has produced 3,234 blankets for charity.  

They use an eight inch square format to make beautiful six square by nine square blankets that are universal noted Dyck, adding each blanket has a label that says Blankets For Canada.  

The group has appreciated the support from across southern Alberta and the   communities who have donated yarn, time and contributions from skilled stitchers.  

This year, there are some big changes coming for the group noted Dyck, and they are searching for a new BFC coordinator and a new home for the group’s work. They need space to meet weekly, which they do every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and space to store blankets and store the eight inch squares.  

“At one time we used to rely on churches to donate space and now we can’t rely on it anymore,” she said, noting that Blankets For Canada first began in Lethbridge by Nancy Panting and her husband. 

They currently meet at the home of Nellie Slingerland, who is moving in the near future. She learned of the non-profit organization nearly two decades ago and wanted to help out – she did that by creating the Coaldale chapter of Blankets For Canada.     

“In August 2006 we started,” said Slingerland. “We’re still looking for a place and we hope we can find a room in somebody’s home or if there’s a church that has an extra room that would be nice. We would donate the (two) tables and all the stuff to go with them,” she added.  

Interested residents in Coaldale wishing to help Blankets For Canada can call either Nellie at (403) 345-3205 or Gerry at (403) 345-5814. 

“We feel we have been providing important charitable work here and hope that it can continue with new support from our community,” said Dyck.