Warm and Well-Advised: Homeless Get Blanket Legal Counsel

Pro Bono

Warm and Well-Advised: Homeless Get Blanket Legal Counsel

Posted Dec 18, 2007, 07:22 pm CDT
By Martha Neil

Many homeless individuals in Vancouver, Canada, could use a warm, waterproof blanket. And they could also use some legal advice about basic rights.

With the help of donors, a non-profit law firm is wrapping up both in a single gift--a free, high-tech waterproof blanket printed with legal information likely to be helpful to the homeless, reports CBC News. For example, it is legal to panhandle, but not in front of a bank ATM machine and you can't repeatedly ask someone for money, the blankets advise.

"We wanted to create a product that would be not only useful on the practical level for someone living on the streets, but also effective as way of informing people about their rights under the law," says John Richardson, executive director of Pivot Legal Society, in a press release.

The non-profit law firm, which is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, worked with Mountain Equipment Co-op to create the blankets. They cost $30 each to manufacture, and have been paid for, so far, by community foundation grants and donated materials from the outdoor gear retail cooperative.

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