Covina Elementary School students donate blankets to Children’s Hospital

For St. Patrick’s Day, Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital volunteer services spread some good cheer to patients by giving blankets. But these were no ordinary blankets. The 128 fleece blankets were packaged in clear plastic backpacks and included Valentine’s letters—all made, written, and packed by the students at Cedargrove Elementary School in Covina.

Each blanket also came with a picture of the student who made it, so the Children’s Hospital patients could see who their special gift was from.

Twenty-five classes were involved in making the blankets at the elementary school that teaches students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The project, called Blankets of Love, was the brainchild of first-grade teacher Susie Gallegos, who began four years ago by having her students make 20 blankets for a local nursing home. The project has grown ever since.

“My niece had to have open heart surgery at Loma Linda when she was only 18 months old,” says Ms. Gallegos. “Now she’s 17 and she’ll help me take the 100 blankets to that hospital.”

By Preston Clarke Smith