North Vermilion High students make prayer blankets for hospice

LEROY - A former North Vermilion High School substitute teacher, who now works for St. Joseph Hospice in Lafayette, needed prayer blankets and she called upon a group of people she was familiar with - students at North Vermilion High.
Charisse Rost contacted Phyllis Bonhagen, North Vermilion’s Family and Consumer teacher, and asked if her class could help sew prayer blankets
“I asked for volunteers and I knew these kids would help,” said Rost, who works for St. Joseph Hospice. “I told them the blankets would be handed out to St. Joseph’s Hospice patients. They hold the blankets or put them on their laps.”
Rost brought North Vermilion pieces of material so they could make around 20 blankets.
Bonhagen turned Rost’s request into a grade. She told her students, which range from sophomores to seniors, what their new project would be. She first needed to teach some of students how to sew. The class started small and made smaller, six-inch size prayer blankets as a test run. Then they moved onto the larger ones. Each student was required to make three blankets in order to get a C grade. The more you made, the higher the grade.
After the project was over, Rost picked up 60 prayer blankets. They came in different colors and sizes. She also brought cake and punch to thank the NV students.
“I am overwhelmed,” said Rost when she saw the box full of blankets. “I was expecting 30. I am proud to be getting so many.”
While many students made three, a handful sewed five and six blankets.
Seana Martinez, a sophomore, made five. Martinez is no stranger to sewing. It is something she has been doing since she was eight years old and she owns her own sewing machine.
“I enjoyed making them,” Martinez said. “I had never heard of a prayer blanket until this.”
Cydney Akers, a sophomore, sewed five blankets. She also had never heard of a prayer blanket.
“It feels good to help someone. I hope that is what the prayer blankets will do - help someone,” Akers added.