Posted on Wed, May 16, 2007

St. Philip students make blankets for soldiers

By /Story/2007/05/16/

Injured American soldiers will receive a warm hug from students at St. Philip Neri School in Lafayette Hill.

Jane Mack’s kindergarten students and Terri Antenucci’s fifth grade students joined forces to make and send cot blankets to soldiers.

According to information from the school, St. Philip Neri students heard about the need for cot blankets in American military hospitals stateside and in combat hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan and decided to help. The students are also purchased military phone cards that the Red Cross will deliver to deployed service men and women.

The money to purchase supplies and the labor to make the cot blankets was supplied by the students. The kindergarten and fifth grade students brought in money during the Lenten season. The teachers talked with the students about making sacrifices and bringing in money that was theirs as opposed to money that was given by their parents.

Kaitlyn Rampone of Roxborough, a kindergarten student, brought in $25 for the project. This was all the money that she received as presents for her March birthday.

Michael Whalon of Conshohocken and Jessica Behr of Lafayette Hill both donated the $20 that they received for cleaning the Whitemarsh Township Police Station.

St. Philip Neri School information notes it ”teaches the value of community service and encourages students to make community service a regular part of their lives.“

All classes from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade become involved in a variety of age-appropriate service projects.

Mack and Antenucci, with the aide of Michelle Abiuso, a school bus driver with Sague Bus Company and a mother of a kindergarten student, coordinated the cot blanket project.

The students met in the school gym on April 26 at 10:30 a.m. and made eight cot blankets. Abiuso delivered the completed cot blankets to the ”Hugs From Home“ Organization for distribution to the soldiers.

”Hugs From Home is a nonprofit organization based in Oceanville, N.J., that is dedicated to helping U.S. military personnel.

For additional information on assisting, visit www.hugsfromhome.org