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On December 6, 2001, Caroline Gosselin, then a mother of 4 young children, happened upon an article describing the work of The Christmas Box House International, a charitable organization founded by Richard Paul Evans, whose mission was to help children in the care of Children's Aid in the Salt Lake City area of the United States. Inspired by what she read, Caroline had the idea of offering a hand-made blanket to children living in foster homes in her area. Two weeks later, with the help of friends who sewed and members of the Ayer's Cliff Cercle des Fermières*, she presented about forty blankets to the Centre jeunesse de l'Estrie social workers.
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The Regroupement Un P'tit Coeur au Chaud had just begun.
Since then, a few thousand blankets and duffle bags have been given to children between the ages of 0 and 17 both in the Estrie region and in other locations in Quebec. Excited about the project, the volunteers involved started circulating the information and, little by little, other groups saw the light of day...
The project catches on...
In 2003, Lise Monette, a Laurentians resident, heard about the project and decided to take matters in hand in her own neck of the woods. A seamstress with a big heart, she put together the "Chaudoudou" group. With the help of the members of the St. Hyppolyte Cercle des Fermières*, she started producing blankets for the children in the care of the Laurentians' Centre jeunesse Laurentians'.
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A little later, Yolande Provencher, an experienced volunteer in Laval, heard about these initiatives. Won over by the project, she got together with the Laval Maison des grands-parents** and created the "Un Coup d'cœur pour toi" group in January 2006. The blankets crafted by Yolande and her volunteers go to Laval's Centre jeunesse.
In the spring of 2006, the daily Le Devoir devoted an article to the Regroupement Un P'tit Coeur au Chaud. A great number of readers were moved by the project and offered to help. Among them, two energetic women, Kim Doré and Hélène Boissonnault, each decided to put together a group in their own region: Montreal and Montérégie. Then in the fall of 2006, following a televised report on TV5, Denise Thériault from Gaspe, decided to join forces with the Regroupement Un P'tit Coeur au Chaud. With the help of her region's Cercle des Fermières*, she founded the "Tu m'tiens à coeur" group. Their blankets go to Gaspe-The Islands' Centre jeunesse.
There are now fifteen regions of Quebec involved in the project: Estrie, the Laurentians, Laval, Montreal, Montérégie, Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec City, Chaudière-Appalaches, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Lanaudière, Saguenay-Lac St-Jean, Mauricie/Centre du Quebec, the Lower St. Lawrence, North Shore and Outaouais, Côte-Nord, and two other groups in Ontario: Oshawa and Ottawa. While each group shares the same mission, they are all self-governing and independent from one another.
*Cercle des fermières : A Quebec women's organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and families and to the transmission of Quebec's cultural and handicraft heritage.
** Maison des grands-parents: an organization devoted to bringing seniors out of isolation and creating intergenerational relations with the purpose of transmitting social and cultural heritage.
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