'What love really is': Hershey Elementary students craft blankets for COVER Lafayette

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Small hands were fast at work Thursday morning at Hershey Elementary, crafting no-sew, tie blankets at a pace that came as a slight surprise to Sarah Williams.

"I honestly had no idea how long it would take them to make the blankets," said Williams, a second- and third-grade high-ability teacher at Hershey Elementary. "Everyone works at their own pace, you know? I'm really proud of them."

Made possible through a local grant from the Lafayette Breakfast Optimist Club, Williams said her class was crafting the blankets as a donation to benefit COVER Lafayette, a grassroots project hosted on the back porch of The Buttery Shelf Eatery, located at 927 Main St., where anyone in need may take a warm item from the designated donation bins.

At the beginning of each school year, Williams said her class selects a motto they follow with a focus on kindness.

The 2023-24 class chose "Kindness First."

While academics is taught each day in her class, Williams said she believes instilling virtues, such as kindness, helps her students grow to become more caring and empathetic adults.

"It isn't always easy for them to choose kindness, especially amongst themselves, but as soon as I say to them, 'Remember our motto,' they take a breath and think before they act," she said.

Never having pursued a grant for a classroom project, Williams said she wanted to find an activity that would benefit those in need within her students' community.

Over the past semester, her class held a donation drive to benefit animal shelters in Greater Lafayette and volunteered as bell ringers for the Salvation Army, but Williams said she wanted to offer her students a more hands-on opportunity to help them see and feel the impact of their work firsthand.

Crafted from two large pieces of fleece fabric, students worked to line up the fabric before cutting one inch wide strips. Tying the two pieces of fabric together, students ensured each tie was double knotted to hold the blanket together.

Alexander Schladetzky and Wyatt Wiedenhoeft, students in Williams's class, spent their morning crafting a blanket from pink and dark grey plaid fleece fabric.

Schladetzky said while tying the fleece strips together wasn't hard, cutting through the fabric was a bit tricky, as parent volunteers made their way around to offer help to anyone struggling.

Working together as a team, the two boys assisted each other with their blanket sections, ensuring all strips had been double knotted and the fabric was lined up just right.

Students happy to put 'Kindness First'

Proudly wearing his "Kindness First" class T-shirt, Wiedenhoeft said when he found out they would be crafting tie blankets to benefit COVER Lafayette, it made him feel really good knowing he'd had a hand in putting together one of the 25 blankets that will be delivered to the organization's donation bins by the end of the weekend.

"I really liked that we are sending these to homeless people because my mom used to work for a homeless shelter," Wiedenhoeft said. "I really hope they enjoy these."

Julie Albregts, founder of COVER Lafayette, said when she'd heard a local classroom was planning to donate handmade blankets to the project, it was heartwarming to hear young students were finding a way to get involved.

Her inspiration for founding the COVER Lafayette project 10 years ago came after reading her great-great-great-great grandfather's Civil War diaries from when he was captured and imprisoned in Andersonville, Georgia, where he wrote of how much he wished for something to cover him from the harsh elements of each season.

While other communities across the state have started their own COVER projects, Albregts said she's hopeful that through education and efforts like those of Williams's students at Hershey Elementary, someday there will be a greater effort to COVER Indiana.

"The magic this project has created is unreal, because I truly don't know who benefits more: the one who's giving or the one who's receiving. Both parties are equally proud to either be giving, or to be receiving that warm item," Albregts said. "The best thing is when someone who's bringing a donation can witness someone in need take something from their donation. When you see that impact, you know what love really is."

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Hershey Elementary students craft blankets for Greater Lafayette