Local Family Wins Grand Prize for Disney's Family Volunteer Contest

Disney's Family Fun Magazine announced that the Fehder family of Louisville, Kentucky, was selected as a grand prize winner of their 2007-2008 annual Family Volunteer contest. The contest is open to families across the United States, and Disney received thousands of entries. The contest is designed to promote family volunteering and is promoted in conjunction with the Points of Light Foundation.

At the urging of friends, the Fehders entered the contest for their work with a charity they founded called Blanket Louisville. The 6-year old organization collects blankets through businesses, schools, organizations, churches and neighborhood collection efforts. The blankets are collected over a 4-6 week period and then distributed before Thanksgiving to over 20 shelters and homeless organizations in the Louisville area in conjunction with Louisville's Coalition for the Homeless. After submitting an extensive entry form and after several interviews, the Fehders were notified by Disney's Family Fun Magazine of their prize-winning efforts.

Kathy Fehder, mom and co-founder of Blanket Louisville with her husband, Steve, and family, said, "We knew we had a unique and simple idea that could help thousands of homeless in Louisville, so we were excited to find out that this homegrown program has received such great national recognition. We plan to expand the program and, hopefully, our efforts will encourage more families to work together to help out our community."

The Fehders received $5,000 from Disney, which will benefit Blanket Louisville as well as the Coalition for the Homeless and the Schuhmann Center.