Blankets for the homeless hits 10 years, an ex-gang member’s promise to help
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- Brandon Anderson expanded a blanket drive over 10 years to serve Raleigh’s homeless.
- Wake County homeless count rose 27% in 2024, pushing demand for donations.
- Anderson recruits donations and outreach, coordinates dropoffs and pickups.
Ten years ago, Brandon Anderson started a one-man crusade to comfort the neediest of have-nots on Christmas Eve, walking the streets of downtown Raleigh and handing out blankets one at a time.
In the decade since, he expanded into the homeless camps off South Saunders Street or Poole Road, then deeper into the Wake County woods, finding people everywhere.
This year he has already started handing out supplies and makes his annual call for donations, including hats, gloves and jackets, and he sees the job growing steadily bigger.
Wake County’s homeless population grew by 27% in 2024 — a total of 1,258 people. Officials called their most recent report the most accurate to date, thanks to increased volunteers doing the count.
“Everything is so high right now,” said Anderson, who is 38. “The cost of living is so high. They’re good people. Some just lost their way.”
A promise
Anderson makes his annual trek through Raleigh as part of a promise to his best friend, the late James Alston, shot and killed on Quarry Street in 2015.
He and Alston grew up together and both joined a Bloods gang in Southeast Raleigh as young teens, and both found themselves in and out of prison.
Anderson has always spoken openly now about the lifestyle that sucked him in, calling himself the product of a gritty environment. Older gang members would come to his football games at Broughton High School and try to warn him off the path he started walking at 13.
Now that he works as a peer support specialist at Southlight Healthcare, an opioid treatment program on Garner Road, he recognizes many faces from his past.
“I know a lot of these people already,” he said. “I know them from my neighborhood. I know them from when I was in school.”
The blanket idea hit on Anderson and Alston while the two of them walked past haggard-looking men in Moore Square in 2014, but neither could start the work because they both returned to prison.
Then the next year, back on the outside, Alston died while trying to organize a gang truce, killed by the same gun violence he tried to stop. Alston pledged not only to keep himself out of trouble — a solid promise for the last decade — but also to carry out the plan to help other strugglers.
“That was the dream of my best friend,” Anderson said. “I’ve got to keep it going. He died behind this movement.”
Anywhere
The homeless population around Raleigh has grown so large and widespread that Anderson says you could drive down most any street and be within walking distance of somebody’s camp.
In May, the city started a program to move people away from outdoor encampments by paying them $1,450 a month, starting with 45 families.
But camps are also being shut down, and the NC House floated a bill this year that would make camping on public property illegal, so Anderson said people are pushing further into hiding.
“All the people in the camps are familiar with my face,” he said. “Nobody is threatened by me. They know I’m trying to help as much as I can.”
It’s a promise that has lasted 10 years. By know, anyone who knows Anderson knows he’ll be back for 11.
How to help
To contribute blankets or warm clothing for Brandon Anderson’s drive, drop supplies at A Place at The Table at 300 W. Hargett St. or Grind Time Cafe at 321 Chapanoke Road. You can also arrange a pickup by emailing Anderson at unityinthecom@gmail.com.
This story was originally published December 4, 2025 at 7:15 AM with the headline "Blankets for the homeless hits 10 years, an ex-gang member’s promise to help."