Fleece and Thank You comes to MSU

How many times have you walked passed the rock on Farm lane and seen people passing out flyers or trying to get you to sign a petition. Probably like 25 times in the last month. However one of the events that was hosted last week by the Sigma Kappa sorority most likely caught your eye in a different way.

Sigma Kappa teamed up with a new non-profit from Metro Detroit called Fleece and Thank You. The organizations goal is to make hand-made fleece blankets and donate them to children in local hospitals with life threatening or terminal illnesses. At the event, students walking near the rock were asked to come help out the organization by tying a couple knots onto the ends  of the blanket to make it complete. In total, Sigma Kappa was able to make 38 blankets! All being donated to hospitals in the Greater Lansing area.

Present at the event were Michigan State representative of Fleece and Thank You, Josh Raptis and Derak Kalisz. When asked what is special about the blankets he said “These blankets are more than just a blanket. This is hope, this is us believing in them while they are getting treatments in the hospital. And now, we have started taking videos of people at our events and the link gets written on a patch that gets stitched onto the blanket and the family can look up that link and see the videos of the people who made the blanket for their child.”

The company was started by Nicholas Kristock, a 2013 alumni from Oakland University in Rochester Hills, Michigan. He was inspired to start the company after meeting a little girl named Sophie who was fighting neuroblastoma, a cancer often found in the small glands on top of the kidneys. Sofie touched Nick’s heart and he began Fleece and Thank You as a way to give these sick kids hope. Although it does not heal their illnesses, it does make them feel as though they have a sense of normalcy at a time in their lives when they should be playing with toys, not laying in a hospital bed.

Just founded in October of 2015, the organization has already made over 1,000 blankets that have been donated to pediatric wings of hospitals all over the state. Derek Kalisz, the other MSU rep said that just within 2016, they have about three or four events every week in the area where people can come and make blankets. The company is still working to branch out to different states but is up and running at other Michigan Universities such as Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant and Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.

As another way to get schools involved, members of the Fleece and Thank You have reached out to the Greek communities at other colleges to have events during the schools Greek Week. A festive week in the spring semester that brings all of Greek life together to raise money for specific charities of their choice. This week often includes several events of philanthropy or community service.

For more information about the organization and ways to help out, you can find their website here. For a $24 donation, you can have a blanket made in your name that gets donated to a child in a Michigan area hospital. On their website you can also find ways  to start your own Fleece and Thank You event in your area or send a message to a little one fighting for their life to give them a little encouragement!