'Fleece for Peace': Fall River blanket company offers comfort for a suffering world

Peter Moubayed is, admittedly, an emotional guy. And from deep emotion can come great ideas.

Moubayed was very emotional last March. His business, Fall River-based NorthEast Fleece, had been shut down due to COVID-19 concerns. He was in his Florida office, concerned about his family, his business, the world.

“I put my hands on my head. I closed my eyes. I was crying. I get emotional,” Moubayed said. “I thought we need hope.”

Hope. The word struck and stuck. A big part of NorthEast Fleece business involves selling fleece balnkets. As part of the blanket business, Moubayed more than a quarter-century ago started “Fleece for Peace,” what he calls a charitable giving program where warm fleece blankets he distributes can be donated for disaster relief and community support.

The latest addition to the “Fleece for Peace” stable are two blankets, one with “hope” printed on it, the other printed with “faith.” The twin-size blankets feature a sky-blue background.

Using the word hope was a given, based on his personal experience in his Florida office. Thinking one other similar choice would be good, he chose to use faith, he said, because he has done considerable charity work with churches through the years, giving them 25 percent discounts.

Fleece for Peace, he said, has through the years partnered with The Red Cross, The Salvation Army, the National Guard. With hospitals, churches and shelters.

This faith and hope project grew from COVID-19, he said, but he envisions it reaching beyond that. Suffering stems from the California wildfires. There is political unrest, demonstrations marred by violence and property destruction. There continue to be those impacted by the forces of nature. Those who are homeless.

Moubayed sees the blanket as a comforting, both literally and figuratively. The Providence native and Swansea resident said his company has “ramped up” its giving program for the hope/faith” project by not only matching the customer’s gift but providing free shipping to the targeted charity.

Part of Moubayed’s management team was not originally awestruck with the boss’s latest idea of the hope blanket. But when Moubayed ran the idea by his niece Cat Moubayed, who works in marketing, she gave a thumbs up and came up with the idea of a “happy color” for the background. The sky blue is a color NorthEast Fleece, which has 20,000 square feet of warehouse space in the Durfee-Union mills, has not previously used.

Much thought, Moubayed said, went into the printing of the words hope and faith. They wanted the right font, the right style, the right side. All upper case letters, he said, would not have conveyed the comfort message. So they went completely the other way, all lower case.

“We thought let’s make it sensitive,” he said. “I think we nailed it.”

They ordered their blankets in March and got their 60,000 blankets about two months ago. Dede Moubayed, Peter’s wife and business partner, was pumped up and wanted to start marketing them immediately. Peter decided to hold off because it was the dog days of summer. “It felt too warm,” he said. “No one’s thinking of blankets then. I said we’ve got to wait for the fall.”

To participate in NorthEast Fleece’s matching donation program, visit https://northeastfleece.com/charities/; or call 1-800-FLEECE0.

NorthEast Fleece blankets have also been displayed at multiple presidential inaugurations, the Olympic Games, major hotels, professional sports events and prestigious universities.

Email Greg Sullivan at gsullivan@heraldnews.com. Follow him @GregSullivanHN.