Circle K’ers get warm and fuzzy with blanket project

Circle K’ers at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham have been making fleece blankets as part of district service project for years, so you could say the word is out. These blankets are popular.

So popular that the club continues to receive requests for more blankets. Most of the finished blankets are donated to the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute in Boston.

  “It’s become a really easy project people can do indoors, and the hospital loves them, so we keep it up,” says Erica Tobey, New England District secretary/treasurer, and immediate past president of the USM Circle K club. “The best part of the project was when a group of us actually got to go up to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and deliver the blankets to the kids. It’s nice to see how happy they are to get them, because they are so warm and soft. It gives me a great feeling to know these kids have something they can hold on to and cuddle as they are going through this difficult time in their lives.”

To keep up with the demand for more blankets, the USM Circle K’ers applied for a Tomorrow Fund grant to help fund their growing project.

This past year, USM became one of 11 clubs to receive one of the first Tomorrow Fund grants given through the Kiwanis International Foundation. The club received US$600.

“The Tomorrow Fund is an excellent way to get some projects done that you might not be able to get done otherwise,” Erica says. “In the past, we have only been able to produce a couple of blankets at a time, but the grant allows us to make about 50 blankets, which is really cool because not only has the PICU asked for more, but other departments have asked for some as well.”