Stillwater High School seniors are knitting and crocheting to help others.
In a senior seminar course, 24 students joined forces with the Binky Patrol, a local group that knits, crochets and quilts blankets to comfort children and teens in need. The course is divided into four teaching units and one is community service, said Sue Salmon, teacher.
In a senior seminar course, 24 students joined forces with the Binky Patrol, a local group that knits, crochets and quilts blankets to comfort children and teens in need. The course is divided into four teaching units and one is community service, said Sue Salmon, teacher.
Maureen Mehan, a knitter, crocheter and school computer specialist, taught students to knit or crochet a blanket to be donated to The Binky Patrol for the community service project. The majority crocheted because knitting seemed to be harder for them, said Salmon.
Students took the project a step further in helping the community, and at the same time, the blankets moved closer to completion.
On May 14, they organized a “Knit-A-Thon” to benefit the family of an ill child, Cameron Stackman. They voted to help Stackman knowing his father, William Stackman graduated from Stillwater High School in 1997. His aunts, Kim and Stacey, also attended Stillwater schools.
Seniors gathered pledges for 15-minute blocks of crocheting and knitting for about two weeks, writing them on sailboats that were hung in the cafeteria. With some pledges still outstanding, $500 has been raised. Another $600 was received from student donations in home room.
Stackman was born with gastrokesis, a condition in which part of the abdominal wall didn’t develop. He needed a double transplant of his liver and small intestine in order to survive.
His condition became so critical he was pushed up to the top of the transplant list at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York. Doctors didn’t think he would be able to survive more than six or seven months without the transplant. Organs were donated and the transplant took place in February, said Salmon.
The family is living in New York City temporarily so Stackman can be close to the medical help he needs. He was hospitalized for over a month and sees doctors often. At least $750,000 in medical expenses were not covered by insurance and both parents had to leave their jobs to be with him, she said.