Minneapolis Man Collecting Blankets To Help Twin Cities Homeless

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Winter will be here before we know it.

And that can be hard for homeless residents in the Twin Cities. WCCO's Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield explains how one man is trying and make the cold days ahead a little more bearable.

Before the weather gets freezing cold, a gesture of warmth in Minneapolis.

"Minnesota gets really cold during the winter, and I just wanted to pitch in and help out as much as I can," Shawn Weems said.

Shawn Weems spent his Sunday passing out blankets to the homeless.

"I woke up, and I was a little chilly, so when I woke up, I reached for my blanket, and it just hit me too. 'You know what? Maybe I should start a blanket drive,'" Weems said.

And that's exactly what he did. Shawn took his mission to Facebook, asking friends and family to donate new and used blankets. So far, he's collected 90.

His goal is to make it 300. The seed of kindness he planted online.

Is starting to grow on the sidewalks of the city.

"I had some friends and we had been talking about helping out but then I see Sean's video and I realized talk is cheap and it was like 'wow, we need to get out there and help them out," Kim Smith said.

"People want to help, and some of us just don't even know what to do," Smith said.

But Shawn and his friends have figured it out. And are hoping others will, too.

"This is real, it's alright to see it on TV, to sit back in your living room and take it for granted what we have. But when you come out here and see it personally it kinda hits our heart," Weems said.

Blankets are being collected at the 4th Street Saloon off of Broadway in Minneapolis. Shawn is also raising money to buy new blankets.