GREENFIELD — There were 11 days last winter when temperatures dropped below zero degrees overnight, which can be especially dangerous for those without a place to call home.
For the past three years, Warming Homeless Hearts founder Heather Carmichael has been collecting sleeping bags and distributing them to homeless people living in Greenfield. On Thursday afternoon, Carmichael visited the Greenfield Public Library along with volunteer Alicia Loiselle to collect sleeping bags and share information about their efforts.
“In weather 32 degrees or below, people can get hypothermia if they don’t have warmth,” Carmichael said. “They can go without clean water for a night, but not without some kind of heat. … We had 60 to 70 days last year under 32 degrees.”
In 2024, Warming Homeless Hearts collected and distributed 60 sleeping bags, and last winter the nonprofit doubled that, distributing more than 120 sleeping bags. Volunteers hope to collect even more this year.
Carmichael, a registered nurse who has lived in Greenfield for more than 30 years, said she was inspired to begin collecting sleeping bags after seeing the movie “5,000 Blankets.” The 2022 film follows a woman named Cyndi (Anna Camp) who sets out to find her husband (Rob Mayes) after he has a mental breakdown and goes to live on the streets. Based on what she sees and learns, she is inspired to help the homeless in Fort Worth, Texas.
“The movie was about a woman and her 9-year-old son going out with flyers in search of the dad. The dad was having mental health problems and left home,” Carmichael said. “They were looking for her husband and the boy’s dad, and they got to know the homeless and they asked the homeless, ‘What do you need? What’s the thing you need most?’ And they said, ‘We need blankets.'”
The movie was based on the story of Cyndi Bunch, a Texas woman whose husband was struggling with paranoid schizophrenia. When she and her son, Phillip, went to look for him on the streets and spent time getting to know the local homeless population, Phillip decided he wanted to buy 5,000 blankets to distribute.
“After I watched the film, I saw in the credits it was based on a real story, and I looked up the woman and the stories that she’s telling now,” Carmichael said. “She said now they use sleeping bags, because sleeping bags are really just better than blankets.”
The sleeping bags are distributed almost immediately upon receipt. Carmichael and other volunteers with Warming Homeless Hearts will either give the sleeping bags to people they meet or know are in need of one, or bring them to warming shelters, community meals and other locations where homeless individuals can go for resources. Carmichael added that volunteer Larry Thomas, an advocate for the area’s homeless population, helps distribute the sleeping bags to the Salvation Army, the Wildflower Alliance, police departments and the Opioid Task Force of Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region.
She added that there are no requirements to receive a sleeping bag, and that while some people then take theirs with them to other communities, most of the people who receive them stay local to Greenfield.
“We don’t want to deny anyone a sleeping bag,” Carmichael said.
Carmichael also prays over each bag, and each one comes with a tag with a Bible passage on it. However, the organization is open to all, and you are not required to be Christian to receive a sleeping bag.
The group is accepting new and slightly used sleeping bags; Carmichael said any bag that is clean and warm, and is something someone would want to sleep in, will be accepted.
Donations can be dropped off at the Greenfield Savings Bank branch at 400 Main St. between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays through Oct. 31. The bank is also donating $1,500 toward the effort of getting sleeping bags to those who need to stay warm this winter.
“We are committed to supporting those in need in our communities, so we’re pleased to help Warming Homeless Hearts collect more sleepings bags than it has in past years,” Peter Albero, president and CEO of Greenfield Savings Bank, said in a statement. “We hope to protect more people through the difficult winter months.”
Carmichael said that since starting the nonprofit, she’s been working to build connections and develop a network. She’s grateful for every church, business and individual that has helped so far, and she hopes to continue to grow the effort.
Loiselle said that in the future the organization dreams of creating its own sleeping bag brand that could be sold, and donate a portion of profits to affordable housing initiatives that could help the homeless find permanent housing options.
“That’s the ultimate goal,” Loiselle said. “To help solve the problem.”
For more information about Warming Homeless Hearts, including a full list of sleeping bag collection sites, visit warminghomelesshearts.org.
