SAAC Leads Blanketing Event as Mount Ida Celebrates D3Week

Posted: Apr 08, 2016

NEWTON, Mass. – This week, schools across the country celebrated NCAA's Division III week, in which they held events that fell into the categories of athletic experience, academic accomplishment and leadership and community involvement.

The Mount Ida College Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) chose to focus on the last of those, and they saw an incredible turn out from the Mustang community as over 100 students came out to help create blankets for Project Linus on Monday evening at the Athletic Center.

Mount Ida College is a proud member of the NCAA's Division III, which puts the focus on the individual as a true representative of the phrase "student-athlete." This week, members create outreach activities that combine both a comprehensive learning component and provide a place of passion and service.

While others in the campus community came out for the event, a majority of the students creating blankets were part of the 275 student-athletes who compete on Mount Ida's sixteen athletic teams.

"It was really inspiring to see so many students coming together for such a great cause. Looking across the gym and seeing everyone working so hard to create something special was very moving," said sophomore Mary Kate Reidy (Agawam, Mass.), a 2015 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's volleyball All-Conference selection.

Project Linus started in 1995 after Karen Loucks read an article about a 3-year-old girl suffering from cancer. The article talked about how this young child used her "blankie" to get through two years of chemotherapy, and endure all of the side effects throughout. Today, Project Linus headquarters is located in Bloomington, Illinois, and has chapters in all 50 states. From each chapter, blankets are collected from local donations and distributed to children's hospitals, shelters, social service agencies, or anywhere else a child might need one. Their mission is "Provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer 'blanketeers'".

Junior Rebecca Levy (Plymouth, Mass.) spoke glowingly about the impact the blankets from Mount Ida's "student-blanketeers" will have on the children who receive them and how great it was to see members of the Mustang community volunteer their time and bond over a really great cause.

"These blankets were made with love and laughter and they will be a great way to brighten up a child's day. The bright and playful designs as well as the fun fringe on the edges are sure to bring a smile to the faces of the children who get these blankets. It is my hope that these blankets will allow the children to forget that they are sick and allow them to just be kids," said Levy.

The Mount Ida College SAAC epitomizes the message of Division 3 week, where members of the athletic community can have a strong hand in guiding the programming, living, and competing experience they have while on campus. SAAC Vice President Sam Laferriere (Tewksbury, Mass.), a junior catcher on the Mustang softball team, hopes that they can make Project Linus a regular partnership with Mount Ida Athletics.

"Yes, I thought this was a fun and easy way for the school to get involved," said Laferriere when asked if she hopes this event will happen again. "It is something small that will impact a child's life. I have hopes that this program will only grow and each year we can make more blankets."