May 17, Sherrard, IL - EMT-Firefighter with Matherville Fire Department, Lilah Flickinger, came to Sherrard Junior/Senior high school on Wednesday to receive donated blankets made by Michelle Rolsch’s junior high math class to disburse among the local fire departments.
learning with a community service project. Her class made ...
“The students decided to donate the blankets to our community fire departments once we heard they were in need. That's about as local as we can get. We are all in agreement that we hope the blankets never get used, that they will simply lying around forever,” said Rolsch
Rolsch said, “One of my amazing paraprofessionals happened to mention a past pay-it-forward community service project and the kids were all over it. They brainstormed for days. What could they do to make a difference? The list of ideas truly brought tears to my eyes. We settled on making blankets.”
She said making blankets was an interdisciplinary exercise, “I could make it into a life lesson in math, counting, measuring, calculating, researching, etc.”
Senior Brenin Krack helped orchestrate the donation, "I thought it was a very kind donation that we hopefully never have to use." Krack is a current volunteer firefighter with the Matherville Fire Dept. After graduation he plans to earn an EMT-Paramedic license and become a full-time firefighter in the Quad Cities area.
