COLUMN| She got the gold

Mia Cooledge of Kirkland’s Highlands neighborhood got her Gold Award from the Girl Scouts. She was able to reach her goal, and then some, to provide blankets to the Union Gospel Mission’s shelter for women and children. On Aug. 7, Mia delivered 45 blankets, well past her goal of 30, to the Mission’s Women and Children’s Shelter.

How did she do all this in such a short time period? Her plan went viral. It was a plan that got the community, and a few people from around the world, involved.

Here’s what happened: Back in the beginning of July, I wrote an article in this newspaper about Mia’s quest for Girl Scout’s highest award, the Gold Award. Mia’s plan was to earn this award by giving the women’s homeless shelter extra blankets. She set up the daunting task of making/delivering 30 blankets to the shelter by the beginning of August. The blankets were to be put together from squares Mia crocheted, a very time consuming task for one individual. Donations of squares and new blankets were also to be accepted.

I wrote the article about Mia’s efforts in July and the story was picked up by King5’s Deborah Feldman. After the King5 piece, Mia’s email started filling up with messages from people willing to help. She heard from people in Boston, Arizona, California, Minnesota, and from Sweden. People of all ages volunteered to help and many included their stories and thoughts when contributing squares and blankets.

A knitting store in Burien contributed blankets the store had ready to donate to a worthy cause. A woman from South Carolina sent a contribution. But the squares from Sweden came the furthest. Mia had a friend who had contacted relatives prior to a trip to Sweden. The relatives were ready and waiting with squares for the project.

Congratulations to Mia on her achieving the Girl Scout Gold Award. It’s exciting to hear she got her Gold Award and the shelter benefitted with the new blankets. But what’s a surprise benefit is people from all over the world pitched in and helped. Perhaps that was the greatest coup of all.

Debra Sinick is a Realtor for Windermere Real Estate’s Yarrow Bay office in Kirkland and writes a blog, www.kirklandhighlandsrealestatebuzz.com. She is a former member of the Kirkland Senior Council.

Contact Kirkland Reporter Community columnist Debra Sinick at debra@debrasinick.com.

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