Community service, one blanket at a time
March 10, 2023
Community service can help out the community in a variety of ways, and for the National Honor Society, one of their ways of helping is by making blankets for Project Linus.
This is the NHS’s 16th year hosting this event, and they have helped contribute to the over 90,000 blankets the Omaha chapter of Project Linus has made according to NHS sponsor Jennifer Cuddy. During their last event, they contributed around 400 blankets. This event was first introduced to NHS when former teacher Krystal Kolb went to a small Project Linus event and offered to help them get a bigger venue.
This event is one of the community service events NHS members are required to attend in the fall and spring, but regardless, students and adults came to help because they thought it was for a worthy cause.
“I help out because I just like doing stuff like this,” senior NHS member Erick Barrera Bustamante said, “I get to see my friends and get together to help out the community.”
Anyone can contribute their time during the community service events that NHS host and students think it is an excellent way to spend any free time a person may have.
“I recommend people joining just because it provides a good opportunity for their academic career,” senior NHS member Bryley Carabantes said, “Having spare time and giving it to your community, providing the necessities for people in need, I think it’s the morally right thing to do because it gives you one more opportunity to make a difference and to actually do something with your community.”
Project Linus is a non-profit organization founded by Karen Loucks on Christmas Eve 1995. It was founded because Loucks saw an article, written by a photojournalist who won Pulitzer Prize, titled “Joy to the World” and was featured in Parade Magazine. The article talked about a three-year-old named Laura who had Cancer and used a blanket to help her get through two years of chemotherapy. The program focuses on making blankets for children. Since its creation, there have been over 300 chapters nationwide and those chapters have created over 9,000,000 blankets.
“We have the best volunteers in the community.” Project Linus Omaha Chapter Coordinator Ginny Debates said, “We had a lot of new people come this time which is wonderful for us because hopefully they’ll come back come back.”
NHS will continue to partner with Project Linus in the future and will still supply blankets to anyone in need. People can donate money or items to Project Linus through the official website. Details of how the donations will be sent to the Omaha Chapter are listed on the website.
