The Children of St. Martha School Holds 7th Annual Blankets of Hope

It was an exciting day last Thursday as The Children of St. Martha School held their 7th Annual Blankets of Hope campaign with students and staff to help spread messages of hope and give warmth to those in need.

The entire school gathered in the gym for this incredible event to virtually hear, over zoom, from the creators of Blankets of Hope, Mike and Nick Fiorito. The two brothers started this movement in Brooklyn in 2016 to spread kindness to our most vulnerable population with the mission to inspire a global movement of kindness.

Blankets of Hope has each student write a message of hope and love which is then bundled up with a blanket and handed out to Lethbridge's homeless population. This initiative is led each year at The Children of St. Martha School by Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Laurie McIntosh. While most schools have to raise funds for the blankets, Laurie says they are the only school in Canada that receives them for free.

"They are aware that, for our community, raising the funds wasn't going to work and Mike and Nick have told us that they will never charge us for these blankets," said Laurie. "They know how impactful these blankets are for our community and will continue to supply these blankets for as long as we will take them."

Over the past seven years, they have seen an entire group of students from Kindergarten to Grade 6 take part in Blankets of Hope. Laurie believes this has helped create an important sense of giving in the students that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

"Blankets of Hope is establishing their legacy right now," Laurie said. "They're going to leave Children of St. Martha knowing they made a difference through this project and you can see the pride in their faces."

Over the past seven years, The Children of St. Martha School has distributed 1,650 Blankets of Hope to members of our Lethbridge community, including the 270 that were created and distributed this year. Of those 270, 200 have went to the Sage Clan with the other 70 going to smaller organizations that support Children of St. Martha specifically.

"Every year, it's something that we look forward to, it's something that we understand that power of," said Laurie. "We get to spend the time in community, we get to spend the time having hope within ourselves and then creating hope in others."