Wasilla students make blankets for local charities

WASILLA — Dozens of Wasilla Middle School student hands have been kept busy this week tying knots in the fabric that could mean the world to someone.

Virginia Pettijohn’s Leadership Essentials class decided a few weeks ago to make fleece tie blankets for MY House and Heart Reach Center, two nonprofits that provide for Mat-Su residents in need.

“We just kind of narrowed it down to something we could (easily) do that would be really beneficial,” Pettijohn said.

But they’d need some money. So Pettijohn helped her students craft letters to take to local businesses asking for donations, requiring each person to solicit at least two organizations.

Eighth-grade leadership student Brynn Steiner said “it was really scary.”

Sixth-grader Kaci Cox clarified.

“We didn’t wanna be rejected,” she said.

But it was a learning experience for all, and the class was able to secure almost $1,000 for the project from four businesses: Weld Air ($500), Valley Mechanical Contracting ($200), Wasilla Bible Church ($200) and Walmart ($50).

Between the donations and the 15 percent teacher discount and seasonal sales offered at JoAnn Fabrics, Pettijohn was able to purchase materials for about 30 blankets. (The church also provided a donation of fleece in the school’s colors for the project.)

On Thursday, an announcement requesting volunteers in addition to the leadership students to help tie the blankets (after Pettijohn’s class cut strips in the fleece) went out over the school intercom. Friday, around 40 students showed up to take part.

Some staff helped as well. Pettijohn thanked administrator Holly Schachle for offering measurement tips; registrar Pam Button for her skill with scissors; and Jason McCourt for drawing up the volunteer sign-up sheets for the project.

“Everybody’s just pitching in, so it’s been really good,” Pettijohn said.

Steiner said the project was natural for the students to take on.

“You give back to your community,” she said.

Even if a person doesn’t feel that instinctive obligation, sixth-grader Gracie Lou Stahl said the recipients’ reactions are worth it.

“I’ve donated, I’ve done charities, and when the kids get their things and all that, they like, are really happy and smiling … and that makes me feel good,” she said.

“It’s like opening a Christmas present before Christmas,” Cox said.

Pettijohn said the plan is to finish tying the blankets by Tuesday afternoon, sew patches that read “hugs from” the sponsors on them, and present them either at their end-of-semester assembly on Thursday or later in the month, without ceremony.

Since this is the first year of the Leadership Essentials class and the first of the blanket project, Pettijohn said she doesn’t know how often they might repeat it, but that Wasilla Middle should continue to take advantage of its assets: a thousand hands.

“We should use that to do good things,” she said.

Students have opportunities for different kinds of leadership at the school as well. Brian Beaudry teaches a Teen Leadership connections class that helps students discover and develop their strengths through group and individual activities, discussions, videos, and music, and George Chapman teaches a class called Brave Builders in which students, this year, are tasked with renovating the on-campus greenhouse and building new record boards for the school gym.

For more information on the charities receiving the blankets from Virginia Pettijohn’s class, visit myhousematsuhomelessyouthcenter.com and heartreachalaska.com.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.