Getting into the Spirit of Giving at Thanksgiving
On the Friday before Thanksgiving week, the girls’ varsity basketball team succeeded in getting the entire Upper School out on the basketball court in McCalmont.
But they weren’t there to dribble or dunk! Instead, students and teachers spread out across the gleaming wood floor to prepare a Thanksgiving gift—colorful fleece blankets—for families in the Northeast affected by Hurricane Sandy.
Junior Emelie Fredrikson and Coach Jane Harrison had been brainstorming ideas about a community project just for the team. Then, as Emelie explains, “Mrs. Harrison found a company that was advertising making fleece blankets for northeasterners. We decided that would be a really great thing for our team to do.”
But why keep all the fun to themselves? So they decided to make it a campus-wide project! “Coach Harrison found a deal on fleece,” Emelie said. “I figured out the details with Mrs. Fletcher-McGookin [dean of students] for timing, funding, and doing the project in our advisory groups in McCalmont Gym. And we were able to pull it all together.”
On Wednesday, the team headed out to purchase 80 pieces of fabric for a total of 40 blankets. With extensive assistance from their coaches and the Dean’s Office, as well as from the dean of students’ former administrative assistant Susan Thomas (a Principia mom, alum, and experienced blanket-maker), the team was able to set things up on Thursday.
After Thursday’s practice, about 20 staff and parent volunteers helped trim the edges of the fabric and pair the layers. By Friday morning, the blankets were laid out, pinned, trimmed, and evenly distributed across the floor of McCalmont Gym. Advisory period began at 8:10 a.m., and Upper School students got right to work cutting strips along the sides of the blankets and then tying the strips together to connect the layers.
“It was so exciting to see everyone involved, . . . working and wanting to help. The project itself was brilliant because it was easy and fun to do,” Emelie reflected. “We also sent notes that students wrote, with quotes from the Bible, to help spread love and provide spiritual support.”