Inmates to make blankets for kids at Children’s Hospital

MT. PLEASANT - The idea to make tie blankets for the children at University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital was sparked after an offender at the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility told correctional counselors he wanted to help do something for the kids.

Kimberly Kerr, one of the correctional counselors at the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility, said the offender isn't originally from Iowa, but he expressed the desire to help after he kept hearing about people doing 'the wave” at Iowa Hawkeye football games. Game attendees, players and coaches have been waving from the stadium to the children on the hospital's top floors after the first quarter of each game since 2017, a new tradition that grabbed attention across the country.

'He wanted to help the kids and uplift them,” she said.

From there, he and correctional counselors came up with the idea to make fleece tie blankets to give to the children. Kerr and correctional counselors Erin Housh and Jodi Wasson are part of the group who are organizing the project.

Kerr said they currently have a full list of offenders at the facility who volunteered time to make blankets.

'I was surprised to see how many guys have volunteered to help,” she said.

Organizers from the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility are accepting donations in the form of money and materials to make the fleece blankets until Aug. 9. Housh said donations can be dropped off at the warden's office at the facility.

Businesses like Thunder Productions, 400 W. Main St. in New London, and Mt. Pleasant Glass, 609 Winfield Ave., have donated to the project.

After all of the donations come in, Kerr said, organizers will buy as much as they can in supplies. Then, those who volunteered will make as many blankets as the materials allow.

The blankets will be made at the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility on Aug. 16. A flyer regarding the project said organizers are looking for volunteers to help with the blanket-making process, but space will be limited.

Housh said the people at the Stead Family Children's Hospital were excited and appreciative to hear about the blankets coming in for the children.

The hospital gave recommendations on what themes to center the blankets on, she said, including unicorns, trains, horses, Paw Patrol and - of course - the Iowa Hawkeyes.