Peer Educators Sew Hats for Children’s Hospital

This winter, youth in AFG’s Outreach and Education Services Peer Education program expressed to AFG staff that they wanted to do a volunteer service project for the Children’s Hospital of Michigan. After considering a few different options, they decided to make fleece hats for the children at the hospital. With the help of one of our fantastic volunteers, the Peer Educators learned to sew the hats. They used a variety of colorful fleece, which provided joy and, most importantly, warmth during those frigid winter temperatures we experienced in Detroit this year.

The first meeting the Peer Educators (PE’s) had was a preparation meeting, where they learned how to cut out the pieces of fleece based on the size of hat they were making. Next, they spent about 5 hours one afternoon, learning to sew and completing their hats. After they learned how to create the hats, the Peer Educators had to teach the whole process to one of their program coordinators. The purpose of this exercise was to help the PE’s fully learn and retain their new skills.

Peer Educator, Tiana, spoke about why the project was important to her, “Making the hats for the children was very heart warming and it feels good to help other people, if I’m capable of doing it. I hope they all loved the hats.”

In total, the youth made 23 hats! A group of the Peer Educators met with Lindsay Heering, the Manager of Child Life Services at Children’s Hospital, to deliver the complete hats. Lindsay gave the group a tour and told them about all the programs at the hospital. The young women in AFG’s Peer Education program were so inspired by the project that they would like to do another project later this year to make fleece blankets for the children at the hospital.