Blanket drive at Basin Electric provides warmth and comfort to struggling community members

What makes a house a home? Without a doubt it’s the people who share it and the memories you make inside its four walls, but there are material things that most of us take for granted that people need to feel the comfort of a home. Simple things like pillows and blankets.

Dan Gallagher, Basin Electric director of Commodity Sales and Trading, volunteers at Ministry on the Margins, a volunteer-based ministry in Bismarck, North Dakota, that supports those who fall through the cracks during times of transition, such as those facing homelessness or transitioning from prison to society. During one of his volunteer shifts at the program’s food pantry, he learned of the extreme need for pillows and blankets. “The next day at work our team got to talking about it and we decided to do a blanket and pillow drive,” Gallagher says.

Over the next two weeks, Gallagher and the rest of the Marketing team scoured their own homes to find blankets and pillows they could part with for the good of others. Dozens were collected and Gallagher delivered them to the appreciative organization.

In a thank you to the team, Sister Kathleen Atkinson, founder and executive director of Ministry on the Margins, said, "Thank you for the gifts of pillows and blankets. Along with being necessities of a household, these are what make a house a home. They provide softness and warmth for a family just starting out. They allow a man sleeping on a bare mattress a night's rest giving him strength to work the next day. Something you and I can take for granted is lifechanging for many in our community. Thank you for caring.”

“It means a lot to me that the people I work with have the same sense of community and values as I do,” Gallagher says. “Doing this together gave our group a sense of unity for a common cause.”

Gallagher says he loves volunteering at Ministry on the Margins because it gives him the chance to have a hands-on impact on those in need. “I really enjoy connecting with the clients there – hearing their stories, learning about their needs, and doing what I can to help them through the difficulties they’re facing,” he says. “It’s that connection that helps me see beyond the statistics and instead see the people these challenges affect.”