In this Heart of the Midstate segment, we’re highlighting the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), which kicked off its 100-year anniversary celebration this year, by bringing together volunteers in the U.S., Canada and Europe to make 6,500 comforters on one day, January 18th, during an event known as The Great Winter Warm-up. They exceeded that goal.

Locally, the MCC East Coast office set an additional goal of collecting 5,000 comforters during the month of January, so events were scheduled before and after Jan. 18.

The Great Winter Warm-up January events jump started MCC’s supply of comforters that are sent to people in crisis all around the world each year. In 2018, MCC sent more than 53,000 comforters as a message of love and compassion in the name of Christ. East Coast supporters created nearly 30,000 of those comforters for MCC’s ministries.

MCC was founded in 1920 when groups of Mennonites and Mennonite Brethren formed a committee to provide food and other assistance to people affected by war and famine in southern Russia, which is present-day Ukraine.

Today, MCC provides humanitarian relief, encourages sustainable development and strengthens peace-building initiatives in more than 50 countries. Comforters and blankets have been part of MCC’s relief resources ever since the end of World War II.

During The Great Winter Warm-up events, volunteers are invited to help knot comforters as they celebrate MCC’s centennial. Events on the East Coast were scheduled in Lancaster, Dauphin, Montgomery and Franklin counties and in Washington D.C.

Find out more about how you can help here.