Grateful Appreciation for Wonderful Dunbarton Volunteers

Assistance League of Northern Virginia hosted a Thank-You Breakfast to recognize the Dunbarton Hugs Team, in Bristow, for the many ways they have supported the chapter over the years. Assistance League members provided a wonderful assortment of foods for the 17 members of the Hugs Team who attended. For more than 15 years, residents of the Dunbarton Community have created the beautiful heart-shaped Hugs Pillows in vibrant patterns that Assistance League members pack with items such as small Beanie Babies, coloring books and crayons, stickers, and activity books. The Dunbarton Team also crafts hand-made baby hats and blankets, quilts, and children’s hats and scarves.

After the meal was finished, members shared several stories demonstrating the significant impact that the items crafted by the Hugs Team have on the children who receive them. Before the pandemic, Hugs Pillows had been donated to pediatric patients at a clinic serving low-income families. Because the clinic couldn’t accept the pillows, the nonprofit found a new audience for the Hugs Pillows and began providing them to kindergarten students at several schools to welcome them to the classroom and to help them relieve stress and learn coping skills. The kids and their teachers loved the pillows and their precious artwork reinforced that gratitude. Members also passed around the adorable Thank-you notes from some of the kids and teachers who received the Welcome Hugs earlier in the school year.

The Talented Hugs team also provides Assistance League with a variety of knitted and crocheted items, as well as items in the “Baby Bundles” that are delivered to the clinic. The Bundles include baby hats and blankets created by the Hugs Team, along with items such as onesies and board books to read to their infants, that Assistance League provides to new mothers. The moms who receive these bundles appreciate the beauty and the uniqueness of the hand-crafted items. Many recipients would not otherwise have such items.

At the end of the reception, Assistance League members gratefully accepted more than 600 items that the Dunbarton Team had created, including 330 pillows, 184 kid’s hats, as well as hair bands, and an assortment of sets that could include baby blankets, hats, scarves, and baby pillows.