BILLINGS - Students at St. Francis Catholic School swapped pencils and paper for fabric and scissors this week to help bring warmth to babies and children in the Billings area.
The project began when eighth-graders Morgan Appelt and Jane Russell decided to make 14 blankets to help children in hospitals.
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Those plans changed when First Presbyterian Church of Billings helped the girls raise more than $650 for the cause. Now, they’ll be donating over 200 blankets to Child Protective Services as well as the NICUs and pediatric wings at Billings Clinic and St. Vincent Regional Hospital.
Dozens of the school's seventh and eighth-grade students joined the effort over the past five weeks, congregating in the halls and classrooms to cut fleece fabric and tie edges together.
Appelt expressed gratitude for the help she and Russell have received. This is an important project to her because she’s a former Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) baby herself.
“I was a NICU baby, and so I thought this would be a great way to help the community,” she said.
The girls’ teacher, Linda Gray, has been supervising the project. While the project’s goals have expanded, she said it started out as a school assignment.
“It’s just a great opportunity for these kids to work together and provide service for each other. They get to see how the community not only has a need, but also supports them,” Gray said.
While it’s hard work, Appelt is glad she can contribute sentimental items, such as blankets, to children in need.
“My dad actually asked me as I was making one, 'what do you think when you make these?' And I said, ‘I think that I'm making someone's most important thing. And I think that's an amazing thing to do,’” she said.
While almost all the material is going into the blankets, the project also produces fabric scraps.
Those leftovers will be going toward a family friend, who will use them to stuff dog beds for Montana animal shelters.
