Warming Up Kids with Blankets and Bears

(BILLINGS, Mont.) December 7, 2016 – This holiday season, Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch (YBGR) has much to be thankful for, especially when it comes to gifts provided by Billings area partners and businesses. Nonprofit organization Blankets and Bears, founded by Sandy McCaffrey, is just one of the businesses who’ve supported YBGR in years past. The Ranch is excited to see the organization back again this year.

“For the past 9 years, Pillows, Blankets, and Bears has provided a number of youth with a unique gift at Christmas,” Rick Hamblin, Director of Community Based Services, said. “The children are all smiles when they receive their bundles.”

For YBGR’s Community Based Services (CBS) kids and families, they get to be a part of a special kind of giving… guaranteed to be cozy and warm. In an event which lasts from 3:30 – 5 p.m. on Dec. 19, at Garfield Center in Downtown Billings, nonprofit organization Blankets and Bears will donate enough bundles which include a new pillow and pillow case, a blanket, and a stuffed animal for nearly 60 YBGR CBS youth and other children in the community. In years past, volunteers have dressed in Christmas outfits and presented each child a gift.

“Deliveries to YBGR have captured me because this is what caused us to grow,” McCaffrey said. “I am just blessed to be able to have our community rally around the children that need us here in Yellowstone County and beyond.” McCaffree said that, in 2005, Blankets and Bears delivered only seven bundles in total, but expects that this year they will deliver nearly 800 bundles. “All of the children have my heart. They’re my first priority,” she said.