Spreading the love

For an average high school student, it’s easy to let life revolve around what goes on within campus boundaries. As a sophomore, I know what it’s like to be caught up in grades, sports and the ever-changing rumor mill. But after a successful community service project caused me to take a step back and look at how fortunate I am, I know I’ll never complain about these matters again.

I was chatting with my mom one evening after school, asking her for advice on how to juggle my stressful schedule. I felt as though I was completely overloaded with various school assignments and I was bogged down. Using her seemingly never-ending wisdom, my mother suggested I take the afternoon off from studying and join in on her plans. I reluctantly agreed, oblivious to how spending my evening at the local homeless shelter would make me feel any better. 

When we arrived at the shelter, my heart instantly went out to the families living there. I never knew how many homeless children there were in my town. After playing board games and serving snacks to the kids, I found out how truly sweet and precious they were. I knew there had to be some way I could make them feel better about their situation and let them know everything would be okay.

After thinking about it for a couple days, I came up with an idea that I knew I would have to put in motion. After sorting out all the details, I put my plan in to action.

I wanted to give the homeless children something to comfort them in their time of need: blankets. But not just any blankets, homemade ones! I wasn’t a wizard with the sewing machine, but I was determined to learn. After receiving donations from people in my community, I bought fabric and went straight to work. I made so many blankets and received so much positive feedback that I gave my project a name — Blanket Children with Love.

The day I passed out the blankets is a day I’ll never forget. Seeing the joy in the children’s eyes really touched my heart. I wanted to let them know that they weren’t alone and that they had a community that supported them. I still pass out blankets to children in the shelter every month since, sadly, there are always new families.

This experience showed me that even if my problems seem significant, other people may have it worse. And there is always a way to help.