Tupelo High School’s very own Crochet Club sent handmade baby blankets to the North Mississippi Medical Center NICU. Kelly King, a sponsor of the Crochet Club, said it was amazing “how they care for the babies. It was a blessing to help them in a small way and to let them be able to be the ones to pass that on.”

“All our students that learned to crochet contributed. Some had not completed a project yet and will contribute next time. But all of our students are learning a basic first crochet stitch,” club sponsor Katie Krauss said.

Student and avid crocheter Pauline Gan Lim helped found THS Crochets with the specific goal of donating to the North Mississippi Medical Center NICU. When Gan Lim brought the idea forward, club sponsors Krauss and King sprung into action to help bring the project to life.

“She approached me and asked me if I wanted to sponsor a crochet club, and she very explicitly said, for us to make blankets to donate to the NICU and probably to the elderly,” Krauss said.

Even though this is the first year of the club they have had an immense turnout.

“We were overwhelmed by the response that we got. We had no idea. I knew there’d be some interest. I thought maybe 30 kids or something. We had almost 100 kids sign up,” Krauss said.

After a successful first donation, the crochet club hopes to do a second donation.

“It’s a great community connection for the school to partner with the NICU and gives us the opportunity to do some donations and things like that,” said Krauss.

They also hope to at some point make donations towards nursing homes and the elderly.

The workers at the NICU will give the blankets to the babies to take home. King said her favorite part is “just to see how much love and effort and time and energy that they pour into those babies. They love them, like their own”.

“I think it’s a blessing that there are people in the community and students in the community who care and want to give back,” Krauss said.