For over a decade the Imperial Court de San Diego has been sponsoring its annual blanket drive, and each year the GLBT community donates hundreds of blankets that are taken to Tijuana and given to the poor and needy. The blanket drive began in response to reports that dozens of young children and elderly were dying each year simply because they could not keep warm. Many often go without electricity or heat during the cold winter months.

“Our GLBT community blanket drive has always targeted the infants and elderly in Tijuana as well as the Tijuana AIDS Hospice,” said Nicole Murray Ramirez, blanket drive founder and chair of the Imperial Court de San Diego’s board of directors. “Now there is a growing need for blankets right here in San Diego.”

In response to reports about local homeless veterans’ shelters needing blankets, members of the Imperial Court delivered 47 blankets. Despite the increased need for blankets now that they are being delivered to both Tijuana and the local veterans’ shelter, Ricky Walker (better known to many as his drag alter ego Ophelia), chair of the 2004 Blanket Drive, reports that overall donations are down this year.

“I think mainly because it stayed warmer longer and people haven’t thought about it nearly as much,” Walker told the Gay and Lesbian Times. “More recently we’ve gotten a lot more blankets. Normally we start getting a lot in December. People are really starting to donate now, I think because it is staying colder longer and people are starting to realize it.”

This year’s blanket drive will continue through March 19. Donation boxes are located at The Hole, Bourbon Street, The Eagle, Bacchus House, Flicks and Numbers.

“I don’t think that people really realize what a difference a blanket will make,” Walker said. “I know the first year I did it I actually went down to Tijuana and saw these kids come over and grab the blankets, and from that moment on I realized how totally important those blankets are and I realized that’s the most important thing I do all year.”

Walker, along with Chris Horton, the president of the Imperial Court’s board of directors, and court member Greta St. James, delivered the first batch of blankets to the veteran’s homeless shelter this past week. Members of AVER, San Diego’s gay veterans organization also partnered with the Imperial Court to deliver the blankets to the shelter.

“AVER is proud to join the Imperial Court on this important project,” said Bob Lehman, president of the San Diego chapter of AVER, “and we are especially appreciative of the GLBT community, including our homeless veterans.”

The shelter, which is open to all veterans, is operated by the Vietnam Veterans of San Diego. In addition to providing seasonal shelter, the non-profit organization also provides residential and non-residential treatment services for individuals dealing with addictions and substance abuse. Officials with the Vietnam Veterans of San Diego expressed their appreciation for the donations, and volunteers who delivered the blankets were moved by the appreciation shown towards them by the veterans at the shelter.

“The amazing part for me was when I walked in, three of the people who were in there were like ‘Oh my God, that’s Ophelia,’ and at first I was like, ‘How do these homeless people know who I am?’” Walker told the Times. “It was the last place I would expect to be recognized. It wasn’t until I got in my car alone that I thought those people who knew who I was… these people knew who I was because they were once a part of our community and they are now in a homeless shelter with the veterans. Not a gay homeless shelter, they were just surviving, people who were a part of our lives.”

Walker said the experience put an emphasis on why the Court is doing the work it does with the Blanket Drives. “It’s even more important because we don’t know who this goes to. At that level of poverty there are no communities. Us being a gay organization donating to what some perceive just to be a straight organization really does affect gay people. Not [just] members of our community, being the gay community, but our community as in, ‘I’m an individual that lives in the San Diego community.’”

For more information on the Imperial Court’s blanket drive, including how to make a donation, to get a donation box in a business or to volunteer to help deliver blankets, contact Ricky Walker at (619) 284-8983.