COLUMBUS GROVE, Ohio (WLIO) — Some Columbus Grove High School students are sending holiday comfort to young patients at Mercy Health St. Rita’s.
Members of the school’s Leo Club donated handmade tie blankets to the hospital’s pediatric patients. The Leo Club is a student service organization connected to the Lions Club that focuses on local volunteer projects. Club members paid for supplies, stayed after school and worked together to make the blankets. Half of the blankets will also be donated to a nursing home in Ottawa.
“We split them up between the hospital and the nursing home,” said Katie Schumacher, a senior at Columbus Grove. “Because they’re local, you get to keep it in the community and know that you’re impacting your community and hospital. Especially those kiddos who are probably scared, they can have some kind of comfort with a simple blanket with fun colors or characters. At the nursing homes, they get to see that the community cares for them, even during the holidays.”
“These are patients who come into the emergency room or end up on our pediatric unit, and they’re scared,” said Beth Keehn, community affairs director at Mercy Health St. Rita’s. “They’re young kiddos. That’s not what they want to be doing. An act of kindness like that can make a big difference.”
The Columbus Grove Leo Club takes on several community service projects like this one throughout the year.
