Left: Advisor Bonnie Gourley poses with Hawthorne’s Student Leadership Team, who made dozens of blankets and dog toys. Right: As a result of raising the most money from a single classroom, $83.85, Christopher Chiero’s class got to participate in the blanket making process.
The local community is just a little nicer for people and their four-legged companions, thanks to the efforts of pupils at Hawthorne Elementary School. Under the direction of school social worker Bonnie Gourley, student leaders engaged in a service project that involved collecting money from every classroom to purchase fabric to make blankets for children in foster care. Dubbed, “Coins for Kids in Care,” the children collected a whopping $322.13, which enabled them to make 50 fleece blankets to donate to My Very Own Blanket, an all-volunteer charitable organization in Westerville. With the leftover shreds of material, they also made 31 cat and dog toys, which will be donated to the Franklin County Animal Shelter.