DCA Day of Service: Students Craft Items of Comfort for Local Children

For Brent Meyers, director of academics at Dublin Christian Academy, one of his last memories of his nephew before he passed away from cancer was 16-year-old Todd smiling with a blanket wrapped around him. The warm blanket was just one of many reminders of the love and support of his community during his suffering. Bringing this kind of comfort to others was the driving force behind DCA’s annual day of service on April 9.

Todd’s mom, Brenda Lurtey, an alumna of DCA’s class of 1983, shared her story with DCA students at a special service day chapel. She talked about the ways her family saw God’s grace in small gestures of care and generosity, and encouraged DCA students that they could make a difference for children and families facing disease.

The entire student body – students from preschool to 12th grade – worked together to make 40 fleece blankets and 30 “Jared Boxes” for suffering children and families in New Hampshire.

Students in preschool through third grade assembled boxes of toys, games, crayons, coloring books, socks, and other items to entertain and occupy children around the same age as them, who face hospitalization. The Jared Box Project is a national initiative with a mission to “entertain and put a smile on the faces of children in the hospital.” Through this initiative, DCA students made and delivered 30 boxes to the pediatric unit at Elliot Hospital in Manchester.

Older students spent the day trimming, marking, cutting, and tying no-sew fleece blankets for Project Linus, a national organization that distributes blankets to suffering children in the Monadnock region and across the country. By the afternoon, the students made 40 blankets in cheerful colors and prints. Students dropped off the blankets at Knitty Gritty in Peterborough, a local yarn shop that serves as a collection point for Project Linus.

Through these two initiatives, DCA students provided 70 items of comfort to kids in New Hampshire. After a day of serving together, several students noted that they hoped to do more even after the day of service. Loving others is part of the school’s vision for its graduates, and the Day of Service is a practical way DCA works to encourage students toward a life of service.

These projects were was made possible through the generous support of local business partners including MC Build, San Ken Homes, Inc., Amazing Rentals Management, LLC, Heartline Stove Shop, Rick & Diane’s Brick Oven Pizza, Laser Pro Foundations, Archer Properties, Versa-Lok, Northstone Builders, Deborah & Bill Blount of Life Changing Radio, Massage by Winona, Re/Max Town Square, and Lee Davis & Co. Their contributions provided the materials for these projects.