Students, nonprofit team up to collect blankets for immigrant families

Residents asked to make donation to A Blanket For The Journey Project

SAN ANTONIO – Local students are partnering with a nonprofit organization to collect blankets for immigrant families. 

Sarah Hudson, social studies teacher at Advanced Learning Academy, is leading A Blanket For The Journey Project.

"The students are doing a 'Speak up! Speak out!' which asks them to identify a problem in the world and try to solve it," Hudson said. 

She said after students narrowed down the problem to immigration, they reached out to the nonprofit organization, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, or RAICES. The agency promotes justice by providing free and low-cost legal services to immigrants and community outreach. 

"We didn't really do a lecture. We instead split into groups and asked kids what they knew already, listening to questions," RAICES youth outreach and internship coordinator Cassidy Fritts said. 

Fritts said the students want to help immigrants. 

"Our post-release team for RAICES started a bus program where volunteers go to the downtown Greyhound bus station and greet the families that have been released from the family detention," Fritts said. 

Once they finish collecting the blankets, RAICES will hand them out to immigrants arriving at the bus station. 

Sixth-grade student Roberto Quiroz is helping work on the project. 

"They told us they were going to donate to immigrant families, to help them, and I thought it was really cool because we were going to help other people," Quiroz said. 

Hudson said the project was a no-brainer.

"As a teacher we have to be very careful how we present information, and it's not our job what to think or teach them one side or another. This topic was an easy one to bring to the table because we're talking about humans and treating humans a certain way," Hudson said. 

Anyone who wants to donate a new or gently-used blanket can drop it off Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at ALA, which is located on the campus of Fox Tech High School, at 637 Main Ave. 


About the Author:

Tiffany Huertas is a reporter for KSAT 12 known for her in-depth storytelling and her involvement with the community.