Winter 2024 we decided to manufacture emergency mylar blankets, these blankets when used to wrap around your body closely are tested to keep in 90% of your body heat, I personally stayed out in below freezing temperatures to test this and they really do make a world of difference. I manufactured 1000 of these blankets, 500 of these will be donated directly to the homeless in immediate need of them. The other 500 will be sold here, 2 blankets for $5 to help fund this project :)
I started this project because I was informed about the statistics on just how many people are homeless on any given night in Utah (around 4,000) according to our annual (PIT) Point-in-time count. Due to cold weather almost 200 can possibly die every year just from the elements. These blankets will save lives.
While we are on the topic I'd also like to shed light on the fact that the state of Utah has decided to do its annual census (PIT) on...
- The coldest month of the year.
- In the middle of the night.
I personally believe that this is done because the governing officials know that this is when the numbers will reflect the lowest of the year. This practice is detrimental to the amount of funding allocated for homeless social work services and makes our city "look better" on paper. I am certain that the numbers I provided above are truly higher in this case and is a disservice to the people in need.
