Marshall University’s Women Connect is sponsoring a blanket drive this month to benefit Mission WV.

Students have until Feb. 27 to donate blankets to the MU Women’s Center in Prichard Hall.

Amy Saunders, director of student health education programs and chairman of Women Connect, said the drive had a good turnout last year.

“We usually pick issues that are related to women or children in our community,” Saunders said. “Last year we did a blanket drive for the mission and we put it out to the students to donate blankets and we had an amazing response. We had over 60 blankets and we wanted to continue that work.”

The focus this year is on incarcerated women and how that affects women, children and families. “Mission WV does a drive with children in foster care in West Virginia,” Saunders said. “A lot of times when children are taken from foster care homes they pack up their belongings in a trash bag, Mission WV is working with some of the prison systems in West Virginia to make them bags, and we wanted to make them a warm blanket to go in the bag.”

Two prizes of $100 will be rewarded to the most creative blanket and to whoever donates the most blankets.

“We hope people donate to this worthy cause and to the children who need these in our local areas,” Saunders said.

Sara Ryan can be contacted at [email protected].