Colette Ankenman
Founder, Baragwanath Blessings
16 year old Colette Ankenman is a great example of teens making a difference. Three years ago, Colette founded Baragwanath Blessings, a non-profit that provides hand-knitted hats and blankets to babies in need.
As with most volunteer efforts, Colette's work started small, hand-knitting the donated items herself. But her efforts have grown to include 150 volunteers. So far, she's managed to send more than 2,000 hats and blankets to Baragwanath Hospital, the Johannesburg, South Africa hospital that inspired her to found the non-profit. Baragwanath Hospital is one of the largest hospitals in the world, but also one of the poorest. So poor, in fact, that they often must send babies home wrapped in items like newspaper instead of the cozy blankets most of us think about when we think of babies.
It's dedication like this that makes a difference in ways many of us never even think about. But to those babies and new moms, Colette is showing them that someone cares. Congratulations to Jefferson Award winner Colette Ankenman for changing her world!
** Read more about Colette's story at: http://cbs5.com/local/Jefferson.Awards.Ankenman.2.1039093.html
** Read more about the Jefferson Award for Public Service (founded by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Senator Robert Taft, Jr. and Sam Beard) at: http://www.jeffersonawards.org/
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5 comments:
Wow, Colette is awesome. Congratulations to her for the award!
I really admire anyone who does something so amazing and selfless like this. Karma is smiling down on Colette, that's for sure!
Oh, I just love this--Way to go Colette!!
My mother in law used to knit blankets for charity (she knit one for me too--and I love to snuggle with it-reminds me of her!)!!
I know! Isn't she amazing? I so admire her--and teens like her--who pursue what they're passionate about. That's just awesome.
Colette rules! Thanks for this news, Kay!
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