Assistance League Provides Colorful Pillows

When members of Assistance League of Northern Virginia gathered last month to assemble 300 Hugs Pillow packages, they anticipated the pillows would please the children who received them. They are beautiful heart-shaped pillows, in vibrant patterns and filled with items that any child would love. But the volunteers could not imagine the real-life situations in which those pillows might be used; nor how precious they could be to the recipients.

A counselor at a school that received some of the pillows assembled by Assistance League following the packing sent the following description of the comfort provided for one family:

“Yesterday morning we welcomed more students back into the building for the 10th time this year! Three of those students are from a family whose mother has filed for homelessness recently for the second time. They were SO excited to be back in school and literally had a little hop in their steps as they walked through the front doors. The mother came into the office about an hour after school started to pick her kids up because she had to go to work and didn't have any way of getting them at the end of the day.”

Arrangements were worked out to have the children wait with the counselor after school so they didn’t have to leave early. After school the wait was longer than expected and the children began to be anxious, especially the youngest. The counselor found a wonderful way to put the Hugs pillows to use:

“ Luckily, thanks to you all I was able to offer them a "coping skills" bag that the Assistance League has generously packed and given us. I was able to give them options between a Frozen bag, Alice & Wonderland, Flowers, and Blue Jean pillows and let them pick which animal they wanted as well. Immediately the youngest chose Frozen theme and pulled out all the content until her parent finally arrived. It was a gift to me to be able to provide them something while they waited that they could take home and call their own. A little after 10:00 last night I got a message from mom, that I wanted to pass along to you just to say thank you once again. Thank you for supporting our school, students, and me always. I am SO grateful!!”

Stories like these make Assistance League volunteers proud to be members of such a dedicated organization and to know their support is so appreciated, but the members are also very humbled to learn the critical situations that many parents face.

If you would like to learn more about the organization or to become a member, visit the website, alnv.org,