DELAND, Fla. — After a sleeping homeless woman was killed on the streets of DeLand, her daughter stepped up to try and keep this from happening again and preserve her mother’s legacy of love.

What You Need To Know

  • Michelle Arel says her homeless mother was ‘murdered’

  • She and her husband honor her mother by creating blankets for the homeless

  • Discover more Central Florida Everyday Heroes right here

“This is where my mom was murdered,” said Michelle Arel, co-founder of Christine's Blankets Inc. 

For Michelle Arel and her husband Stanley, a bench on Woodland Boulevard holds a painful past.

“It is hard, it is very hard because this was the last place she was and I know it is where she took her last breath,” said Arel. 

Arel shared that her mom Christine struggled with schizophrenia. Although they had tried to help in every way they could, in October 2019 her life ended in tragedy.

“She was sleeping here, she had a blanket over her and the man that took her life said that he thought she had his blanket,” said Arel. 

While mourning, Arel and her husband came up with a way to honor her life.

“We came up with the idea pretty much at the same time because she was murdered, her life was taken because of a blanket we immediately knew there was a need, it was instant,” said Arel. 

Her husband knew exactly what to do. 

“We immediately thought instead of flowers, let’s have everyone bring a blanket and that way we could you know give it to the homeless and right then and there we knew it was going to be bigger than just a memorial service,’ said Stanley Arel. 

They got way more than they ever expected and Christine’s Blankets Inc. was born.

They have locations all over Volusia and Flagler counties where they collect donations.

After picking them up, they clean and prepare the donations.​ Each blanket is packed with a note.

“It says, ‘I love you don’t ever forget that,’" said Arel. "That is actually the last thing my mom ever said to me." 

They place them on benches, bus stops and at shelters around the community, hoping to show the homeless they aren’t alone.

“The comfort of a blanket can also be a comfort of love, knowing that someone is there, that people care,” said Stanley Arel. 

While the Arels work tirelessly to make sure what happened to Christine never happens again, they don’t consider themselves heroes. They point instead to all the helping hands that help keep Christine’s memory alive.

“The community, those are the heroes,” said Arel. 

The Arel’s hope to expand Christine’s Blankets to eventually serve the entire state of Florida and beyond.

To learn where you can donate, visit their website here.