PHILLIP'S WISH DELIVERS WARMTH

DECEMBER 2007

Keller youth's warm heart helps many homeless battle cold.

10:25 AM CST on Thursday, November 30, 2006

By VERONICA VILLEGAS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

He's just 9 years old, but Phillip Pruitt takes little for granted – like staying warm on a cold winter night.

The idea of giving out blankets to the homeless came to Phillip Pruitt two years ago, after driving with his mom and looking for his dad, who showed early signs of schizophrenia and would disappear for days.

That's why when the temperatures nudge – or plummet – toward freezing this winter, he will hit the streets with his mother and a small army of volunteers to hand out blankets to the homeless.

It's a mission that began two years ago when Phillip's father began to exhibit signs of schizophrenia and would often disappear for days on end.

"I had taken him out with me many, many times at night looking for his dad," said Mrs. Bunch, 43, of Keller. "We didn't always find his dad, but we found a lot of other people who were living and sleeping on the streets."

One night, as his mother tucked Phillip into bed, he asked whether all the homeless people they had seen while looking for his dad were warm enough.

Mrs. Bunch told her son the truth: "No, not everyone is warm enough."

That's when Phillip decided to spend his meager savings to buy a few blankets to give to the homeless and ask friends and family to do the same. That year, he and his mom passed out about 200 blankets, and the grass-roots effort dubbed Phillip's Wish was born.

"It was just sad," said Phillip, a fourth-grader at Independence Elementary. "I wanted to do something to help them so they wouldn't be so cold."

Last year, Phillip's Wish collected more than 5,000 blankets. This year, the group hopes to double that. It's already halfway there.

Phillip, 9, will hand out blankets again this year with his mom, Cyndi Bunch, and other volunteers.

More important, Mrs. Bunch said, is that the effort creates awareness about mental illness, drug addiction and homelessness.

"There's just not enough help out there for the mentally ill and the drug addicted unless you have insurance," she said. "That's why they end up either on the street or in jail. It's a vicious cycle and we, as a community, need to be more supportive."

Phillip said even though his dad – a once successful construction engineer who is now being treated for his mental illness at the Vernon State Hospital – isn't living on the streets anymore, he plans to keep up his blanket drive for as long as there is a homeless problem.

"It's kinda like I'm helping my dad," he said. "And I hope I'm making him proud."

Veronica Villegas is a Fort Worth-based freelance writer.

HOW TO HELP

A rally will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Tom Thumb store on State Highway 121 at Hall-Johnson Road in Grapevine. City officials from Grapevine, Colleyville, Southlake, Keller, Haltom City, North Richland Hills and Flower Mound and students from area high schools who are helping with the effort are scheduled to be in attendance. For more information about Phillip's Wish or to find a blanket drop-off location, go to www.phillipswish.com.