The Groups Scholars’ “Blankets and Baggies” service project was held in the Frangipani Room at the ?Indiana Memorial Union.
“It was a room-full,” freshman Jhaven Law said, double-knotting the ends of a nearly finished blanket. “We were all, like, squished basically.”
Assembled care packages were piled on a table on the right side of the room, and finished blankets were stacked on a table to the left.
Jessica David, graduate assistant for the Groups Scholars Program, said they made more than 60 blankets and 50 care packages. She said they looked on the New Hope Family Shelter’s website to compile items they needed.
A representative from the shelter had stopped by, David said, and told her the blankets were especially great because they are a “hot commodity” at the shelter.
“She gave me a huge hug,” David said.
Bloomington’s MLK Grant Fund financed the project.
According to the City of Bloomington’s website, they awarded a total of $29,500 this year for projects that remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy.
The Groups Scholars Program was awarded $500 for its project.
David said they wanted to organize a project that was fun and easy enough for everyone to get involved, which is why they made the blankets.
Mischa Kasperan, an international services representative for the Office of International Services and past group scholar, said the project was very simple.
“It only took us about 20 minutes to make a blanket,” she said.
Diamond Turner, a freshman in the Groups Scholars Program, picked up the last of the blanket materials and said she had already completed six.
Turner said the Groups Scholars Program gives the students a community on a large, diverse campus.
“In Groups, they teach us before we even come to college this is like a big community, that we should stick together with everything that we do,” she said.
“All of these students that are in the Group Scholars Program are either low-income or first-generation, so having no real frame of reference when it comes to the college experience,” David said.
She said the service gave these students the ability to pay forward what Groups Scholars has given them.
“It’s kind of similar in the fact that they’re able to give back and contribute to the community,” David said.
The service was intended to be a reflection of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s message as well.
David said they were operating under King’s belief that everyone can do something to contribute.
“No matter how small, they can do something,” she said.
Kasperan said the project was a great way to commemorate Dr. King.
“I think it’s obviously a service-oriented event, and he was a service-oriented man,” she said. “A lot of stuff he did, he did on his own time. It wasn’t like he had to do it, or it was like his job. It was almost like he made it his job to give back and change stuff in his ?community.”
