J.E. Cosgriff students offer holiday warmth to others

Courtesy ofJ.E. Cossgriff School

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SALT LAKE CITY — The holiday spirit at J.E. Cosgriff Memorial Catholic School had a decidedly handcrafted feel this year as the first-grade students assembled prayer blankets and the fourth-grade students knitted hats, all of which will be donated to hospitals and charitable organizations.

Each year the students in Megan Gale’s fourth-grade class learn to knit. They are taught by volunteers from the parish and school community. A local shop, Blazing Needles, donated knitting needles and skeins of yarn.

The hats the students knit were donated to the Huntsman Cancer Institute and The Road Home.

While five of the students already knew how to knit, the others undertook a process that involved many dropped stitches before the hats they were working on took shape. Everyone made at least one mistake, they said, but when they looked at the finished project they didn’t see it. And, despite the frustration involved with learning the new skill, the consensus was that “once you get it, it’s a lot of fun,” as one of the fourth-graders said.

The students said they learned patience from knitting, and it gave them confidence that they could learn a new skill. Counting rows helped with math; in addition, they enjoyed learning something that would allow them to help others, they said.

Some of them enjoyed knitting so much they took their projects home to work on there. About half of the students said they are considering learning to knit a project for themselves.

Meanwhile, each of the first-grade students in Sharon Kerikas’ religion class wrote a prayer to accompany a blanket that would be sent to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.

The hospital is named after St. Jude Thaddeus, one of the saints whom the children studied in their class.

Before the children tucked their hand-written prayer into a blanket, Fr. Andrzej Skrzypiec, pastor of St. Ambrose Parish, asked them to call to mind the boys and girls who would receive the prayer blankets. He then led them in reciting the “Hail Mary.”

Following the prayer, Fr. Skrzypiec blessed the blankets with holy water which, he explained, is a visible sign of God’s grace.

Each prayer the students wrote to the children who would receive the blankets was individual. For example, Emily wrote: “Dear friend, I hope your hair is growing back.”

From Ellie was this letter: “Dear friend, Hello. My name is Ellie. I am praying for you. I live in Salt Lake City. My school is J.E. Cosgriff. I am here for you. I have faith in you.”

Eric wrote: “Dear friend, Hello friend. I hope you feel better and I will pray for you tonight. My favorite video game is Splat Tune.”