Volunteers at Harrisburg Brethren in Christ Church linked hands around the comforter they had just completed and prayed for the person who would receive it. Then a bell tinkled and volunteers clapped as they added the blessed blanket to the pile they were donating to Mennonite Central Committee.

People from the Pennsylvania church, whose members represent about 35 countries, and friends from the community and neighboring churches gathered Feb. 27-28 to send comfort to people around the world living with poverty or violence.

“I think this is caring for the people that Jesus talked about, the least of these,” said Kim Mumper, the refugee comforter project coordinator for ­Harrisburg BIC Church.

Giving someone a comforter seems like a small thing, she said, but she hopes it assures recipients that somebody sees their suffering and cares about them.

Across the U.S. and Canada, people made comforters in their homes, sewing groups or large-group activities as part of MCC’s Great Winter Warm-up challenge to make 10,000 comforters before March 31. The Harrisburg group added 28 ­toward the goal.

MCC sends these comforters to people around the world. In 2025, it shipped 39,616 comforters to communities in Canada, Malawi, Palestine, Ukraine, the U.S. and Zambia.

Fellistus Munakombwe, a member of Harrisburg BIC Church who grew up in Zambia, said her heart was warmed by the colorful fabric, which reminded her of traditional clothing worn in Zambia.

“I may not be good at it [sewing],” she said, “but the understanding of what it does and what joy it brings in the world to the receiver, that gives me joy. It is the joy of warmth.”

People might not think of Zambia as a country that needs comforters for warmth, but, Munakombwe said, when temperatures reach 50 degrees, it feels very cold to Zambians, many of whom live in homes without heat.

Comforters that MCC sends to Zambia go to people living in refugee camps and in prisons.

“Everybody needs warmth,” said ­Munakombwe, who is also an MCC East Coast board member. “It’s a gift that bonds us together.”

For volunteers Sheldon and Marietta Sawatzky of Harrisburg, making comforters is a continuation of “helping those who need it most,” like they did in Taiwan in the 1960s. Sheldon helped to get MCC canned meat, fruit and vegetables and Christmas bundles of clothing from the U.S. through customs to a hospital ministry in the mountains. Marietta served as a teacher with another organization there.

Marietta said, “One of the verses we learned in our small group is, ‘If any man who has material possessions sees his brother in need but does not have pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?’ [1 John 3:17]. So both faith and action have to be evident.”

Munakombwe has faith that the comforters will be received with love, wherever they end up.

“We want to hear the stories of what the quilt is going to do, what it means to somebody,” she said. “But I think the impact will go beyond what we can hear, beyond what we can see — and it’s in God’s hands anyway.”