Cuddles for Kids

By Kylie Delwiche

As the school year continues to wind down, there are many activities that the community continues to become involved in order to make an impact on people both inside and outside of our small town. One of the ways that both faculty and students have done this is through the new project, Cuddles for Kids.

Earlier this year, Monica Grant came into contact with Mary Schoedel with a new project a former Chillicothe graduate started as a non-profit charity. Grant introduced the project to Scheodel because it was local and originated from Grant’s previous town.

The former IVC graduate, Taylor Larson began assembling the project using her own experience as her motivation. At eight years old, she spent some time in the local hospital where she was then given a teddy bear from 97.3 Nash FM. Seeing how much this meant to her, she decided she wanted to give this same sense of comfort to other kids.

This then sparked her idea for Cuddles for Kids at just seventeen years old. Larson hoped to inspire kindness in others especially those in little kids.

The idea for Cuddles for Kids within the school started around February and is projected to work until the end of the school year. Seeing how close this tied into the FACS curriculum, Scheodel decided she wanted to get some of her students involved.

FCCLA members would then be given the opportunity to sew outfits onto stuffed animals normally resembling those of the hospital staff, and would be given to children at the OSF Children's Hospital in months to come.

When asked about the reasoning behind the animal's attire, Mary Schoedel stated that “the overall goal of making the outfits resemble the hospital staff was so the children would find comfort in those animals and hopefully find comfort in the staff as well.”

Currently there are four students who have decided to take on this project: Isabelle Johnson, Abigail Johnson, Julianne Keilion, and Lindsey Meisenheimer.

As a club that takes on large service projects throughout the year, Scheodel saw this one as a life changing experience to show those students how important being kind truly is to everyone, and how one person can make the life of another change.

“This whole project is based around acts of kindness, and I believe this school has the potential to make an impact on so many kids both within our community and out,” said Schoedel.

Although Princeville is a small town, it inhabits students with big dreams. Taking on this project for charity not only has allowed the students to grow closer to the foundation, but it has allowed them to see the amount of impact they can have on everyone around them.