Students Donate Hard Work to Long Valley Toddler

A group of fourth and fifth graders from Old Farmers Road School donated 10 weeks worth of quilting efforts to Project Linus on Wednesday, and offered one to Long Valley’s Jack Gumersell as well.

Gumersell, in March and required emergency brain surgery, was on hand to choose a quilt made by the young ladies in the school’s quilting enrichment program.

The program, led by special education teacher Margaret Beute, has been offering a different form of enrichment to all students in the school who wish to pursue it. Beute, a 30-year quilter, says the creative hobby involves math and problem-solving skills.

“A lot of the students come in without knowing how to thread a needle,” Beute said. “I bring a box of fabric into school, and we learn how to make patterns, cut out pieces, and stitch them all together.”

The students meet once a week for 10 weeks in the enrichment program. The group currently consists of girls only, but some male students have expressed interest, Beute said.

For a good cause

Members of Project Linus, a non-profit organization that distributes hand-made blankets to New Jersey children suffering from serious illness and trauma, came to the elementary school to collect the blankets made by this year’s enrichment students.

Kyle Sabatino, coordinator for the Morris and Warren Counties chapters of Project Linus, thanked the students individually for their volunteer service and explained the importance of Project Linus.

“You can buy a blanket, but to get one from a kid who made it for you–that’s really special,” Sabatino said. “These blankets give them hope; it makes them happy and helps them to get better quickly.”

Project Linus has distributed 80,000 blankets to Japan after the tsunami that devastated the country earlier this year, and sent 40,000 blankets to Haiti after an earthquake struck the island in 2010.

Beute said some of the students know the Gumersell family personally, and thought Jack would be a great recipient for one of their pieces of work.

“At first, the girls didn’t really want to give away the blankets,” Beute said. “But when they found out it was going to kids who could use them, they were very excited.”

The students held up their finished work, and gave Jack Gumersell the choice of which blanket he liked best. A blue and star-patterned piece caught the toddler’s eye, and now his bedroom will have a new memento from his fellow community members.