Students at two south suburban high schools joined forces to make blankets for hospitalized kids and ended up showcasing the power of empathy in the process.
“I like helping other people and it makes me feel good giving back to people who need it,” said Jordan Alba, a senior at Richards High School in Oak Lawn, who was in the hospital himself as a child. “Being in the hospital is a scary place, so for you to get a gift would brighten your day.”
James Soderstrom, who teaches business and coaches girls basketball at Richards, learned blankets were in short supply at Edward Hospital in Naperville from a friend, Rebecca Lichucki, whose son, Jacob, was receiving monthly injections for an autoimmune disease at the facility. The injections can take up to 72 hours and the room where her son, Jacob, 15, receives them can get chilly.
Soderstrom felt it was a great opportunity to get students involved.
“These kids are there (in the hospital) and they’d rather be with their friends, out playing,” Soderstrom said. “They have no sense of comfort.”
Wanting to make it a cross-curricular project, Soderstrom involved Mary Noren, who teaches physical education and yoga at Shepard High School in Palos Heights, and soon she was on board with her class.
Noren said yoga fits right in with the project.
“The yoga philosophy is being positive, being good to other people and every semester we do something that incorporates giving back,” she said. “When Jamie brought this up, I thought it would be a good opportunity to try something new.”
Noren said her past class projects have included making cards for children and hospitalized veterans, and helping with a Thanksgiving food drive.
Soderstrom said his class had already discussed the importance of making a positive impact in the community as part of a social responsibility unit.
“When I presented it to the kids in my (marketing) classroom, they were all about it, like ‘yes, let’s do this,” he said. “That speaks to our student body.”
The two teachers bought fabric appropriate for girls or boys of various ages with themes of professional sports teams and video games for boys and Barbie and female trolls for girls. The students spent several days last week laying out the material, cutting little strips on the edges and tying them to make them into cozy blankets for children at Edward.
“Our administration really backs new learning techniques and practices to help the students,” said Soderstrom.
At first, Marel Doon, a senior at Richards, though it was a simple project to churn out blankets. But then he heard the blankets would go to children in the hospital.
“It’s a comforting thing and even if I wasn’t in a classroom, I would still want to do it,” Doon said. “I just think it was a nice experience being taken out of the classroom setting to contribute to a bigger cause for children who need comfort at this time.”
Abigail Torres, a senior at Shepard, already knew about the importance of comfort when going through tough times. Growing up she saw people struggling with financial problems and her uncle died of leukemia.
“This is something that obviously not only one child but others struggle with and it’s such a simple thing,” she said, noting even something “as simple as helping a hospital with a blanket or two makes me feel like I am useful and purposeful.”
Fleece or crocheted blankets can go a long way to making children feel better while going through difficult treatments at the hospital, according to Nina Sittler, a child life specialist at Edwards.
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“We try to put a blanket on the bed so as each patient comes into the room, it’s kind of a nice, warm welcoming and a softer touch to the hospital room,” Sittler said. “Right now because we have been so busy with so many patients nonstop, it’s been hard to keep the blankets on our shelves.
“Sometimes if they have to come back, they can bring the blanket back with them and for long-term patients, it’s kind of their hospital blanket.”
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.