Connor Daily may only be 8 years old, but he knows that we all need emotional comforts in our daily lives, and sick kids are no different.
A personal comfort for Conner is the blanket he received when he was born, stating, “I still have the blanket my Mom and Grandma sewed for me when I was born.” He continues, “I still love it so much – it’s blue with cuddly yarn.”
Connor, along with 25 of his fellow classmates at Hawkins Elementary School, made blankets they hope will comfort hospitalized children with the help of the Fleece & Thank You program.
The elementary school students made 32 fleece-tie blankets in Ms. Christine Darkowsi’s classroom with kits supplied by Bryce Goulah, the Fleece & Thank You program’s chief director of operations.
As Goulah explains it, “These blankets will go to the next hospital pediatric unit that needs them. We run a rapid response system – they let us know when they are low on blankets and we deliver.”
Since co-founding Fleece & Thank you in 2015, nearly 40,000 blankets have been sent and delivered to kids in 33 different U.S hospitals. On each blanket is a code that allows the patient to see a video-taped message from the person (in this case kids) that created it.
Conner’s classmate, Kenzie Mann, opens one of the videos by saying, “We made this blanket for you. I hope it makes you feel happy. I hope you like it and it makes you feel good. I hope that when you get it you will be happy and not scared in the hospital. Bye!”
Many schools and corporations get involved with the nonprofit to help support its mission to help children cope with illness, like hosting events or fundraising to help make these fleece-tie blankets.
8 year old Audrey Loiselle also hope these blankets will ease some of the fears these kids suffer with while being hospitalized, sharing, “I think they will feel more welcome there with a blanket. It makes me happy to help them.”
You can learn more and get involved with the Fleece & Thank You program by visiting them online at www.fleeceandthankyou.org.
