They’re just 7-x-9-inch squares of fiber, but when stitched together, they form a blanket. So, Samantha Fowler, a teacher at Northwest High School in Montgomery County, Maryland, had an idea for two of the blankets produced by the students in the Warm Up America club she sponsors at school.
The idea behind the Warm Up America organization is to provide some warmth and comfort in the form of blankets for people in shelters, nursing homes and hospitals.
Fowler and students in the club decided that the multi-colored blankets should be sent along to provide comfort to the students at Magruder High School who had experienced the trauma of an extended lockdown and shooting on their campus last month.
Purva Jani, a 16-year-old junior at Northwest and a member of the Warm Up America club, said that as soon as she heard about the shooting at Magruder, she knew she wanted to do something. She just didn’t know what.
“Honestly, I wished there was more I could do to help the community,” Jani said. So the idea of donating the blankets that she and other students had made with their own hands felt like a perfect way to reach out.
“It felt amazing” knowing the blankets would be going to other students, Jani said.
Another Northwest 11th-grader, Emily Woo, 17, is also a member of the club that created the donated blankets. Woo said not only did the blanket donation let students across the county know that others cared, but the act of creating the blankets has another effect.
“When we knit the blankets together, we build a community. We knit the community together,” Woo said.
Both Jani and Woo said that the act of getting together as a group and working with their hands is relaxing. And Jani said there’s a sense of pride in the act of creating something that you can hold in your hand, or in the case of a blanket, wrap around you.
But, “It’s not just about the action itself; it’s about giving back to the community,” Jani said.
Fowler said the club has grown while she’s been sponsoring the activity, and she stresses that it’s a very student-driven organization. “Our students are really good at recruiting,” she said. “This year we probably had 40 kids initially sign up for Warm Up America.”
Since 2018, the students in the club have donated over 23 blankets to Project Linus, and the Upcounty Hub in Germantown. Project Linus is a charity that donates blankets to children and is named for the Peanuts character who was attached to his security blanket. The Upcounty Hub was founded at the start of the pandemic and distributes food and supplies to families each week.
Jani initially joined the Warm Up America club because “I consider myself a pretty artistic person in general. I like trying new methods of art,” she said.
Woo, like Jani, joined the club as a ninth-grader.
Woo said she was drawn to the club because she had learned some of the basics of knitting and crocheting.
“And when I learned that they had a club at Northwest, it piqued my interest because I wanted to expand my skills,” Woo said.
The Warm Up America club is popular among the students, said Fowler. It’s mostly girls but from time to time, “we will get one or two guys who want to learn how to knit and crochet,” Fowler said.
Jani jokes that sometimes, when people see her crocheting in class, they’ll ask, “Isn’t that a grandma thing?” But she tells them it helps her relax.
“And honestly, I don’t mind that people find it an ‘old person’ hobby because it makes me feel wise,” Jani said.
Woo said she thinks knitting and crocheting have become more popular over the past couple of years. She’s seen a lot more of it on social media, and she thinks it’s likely tied to the pandemic.
“I think it definitely helps people pass the time. And it relieves stress, and there’s a lot of stress in the pandemic,” Woo said.
Fowler said the nature of the club, where kids gather in groups, take out their knitting or crocheting and chat while they work, definitely provides teenagers who have experienced the upheaval of the pandemic with a comforting outlet.
“I think it’s been a great way for the students to just, you know, not think of anything else, but just working their hands and making something that they know will help somebody else,” Fowler said.
“It’s been a hard year for everyone,” Jani said. “And just knowing that there’s support out there is really something that can help.”
