Wrapped In Love

How Steve and Glenda Turned a Simple Idea Into 44,000 Blankets

“People don’t always realize how much happens before that happy adoption photo.”

W hen Steve and Glenda Spero first walked into Joybound more than two decades ago, they never imagined they’d become the unofficial “Blanket Dream Team.” Back then, our shelter used soft, white ambulance gurney blankets provided by a local nurse. Perfect for keeping dogs cozy, but terrible at hiding accidents. When the supply stopped, the Speros looked for a solution.

“I started calling local hospitals,” Steve recalls, “but I was told the corporate paperwork could take years.” The Speros weren’t about to keep our animals waiting that long. Instead, they went straight to the charge nurses at John Muir’s Walnut Creek and Concord hospitals with a simple plan: place clean, gray ambulance gurney blankets in a barrel by the ambulance bay, and the Spero’s would pick them up weekly. The nurses agreed. And, 20 years later, they’re still saying yes!

Together, Steve and Glenda now deliver about 2,000 blankets a year. More than 44,000 in total. “They get used until they can be used no more,” Steve laughs. First, they warm dogs. If chewed, they’re trimmed for safety. Eventually, they’re cut into smaller pads for cats recovering from surgery.

As a former Animal Care Specialist, Steve knows the behind-the-scenes hustle. “It’s thankless work sometimes,” he says. “People don’t always realize how much happens before that happy adoption photo.”

For Glenda, it’s simple: “We enjoy providing something useful, and we know it makes a difference.”

This dynamic duo has wrapped thousands of animals in comfort, literally. Their legacy is as warm as the blankets they deliver.

Want to start your own feel-good tradition?

Visit joybound.org/volunteer to learn more about volunteering with Joybound.

Note: This article was featured in the Fall 2025 issue of Joy Magazine. With a gift of just $25 to Joybound, you can be added to our mailing list and receive Joy in your mailbox for one year!