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Volunteers hang scarves for those in need

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By Elaina Sauber

Despite Tuesday's balmy temperatures, community volunteers carried on the Charleston Scarf Project for a second year.

The Charleston Area Alliance and Charleston Town Center partnered together to tie more than 100 scarves, hats and gloves to lamp posts and trees at Slack Plaza.

Intended to help the homeless and those in need during the winter season, each item included a message such as "I am not lost. If you are cold, bundle up."

Susie Salisbury, Charleston Area Alliance vice president of community development, said she was approached last winter by a friend, Ashley Dunkle, who wanted to help those subjected to the brutally cold weather.

"It was February 14 and zero degrees, so we just came out and put them up," she said of the cold weather items.

The next day, all of the scarves were gone.

The Charleston Town Center Teen Board also played a role in this year's scarf project, collecting around 50 scarves with volunteers who helped hang them on Tuesday.

Salisbury said they decided to hang the items in Slack Plaza because of its central downtown location.

"A lot of people pass through here every day, it's the transit center, and frankly, adding this color to the park really livens it up," she said.

Almost immediately after the scarves were hung throughout the plaza, passersby began taking items and thanking volunteers.

Salisbury said she'll return to the plaza in the coming weeks as the weather gets colder to replenish some of the scarves.

"We've been working really hard to promote downtown Charleston as a shopping destination for the holidays, and this kind of gives us an opportunity to give back," she said.

A similar project was organized in Huntington last month when volunteers taped coats on poles throughout the city for those in need.

"When you have a lot of hands, it doesn't take long to put them up," Salisbury said.

Reach Elaina Sauber

at elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-3051 or follow

@ElainaSauber on Twitter.


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