As a child, I wasn’t big on volunteering my time. I didn’t want to spend my Saturday mornings collecting trash on the highway or painting over graffiti.

However, if my teachers would have come up with something like Merced’s Farmdale Elementary School did, I might have thought twice about helping out for a good cause.

A few weeks ago, Farmdale teacher Jamie Hillhouse said she heard that Project Linus was in need of blankets for ill and traumatized children. After speaking with a few teachers and school officials, Hillhouse decided Farmdale’s students could help by making blankets themselves.

“We scraped together our nickels and dimes and bought enough fabric to create 36 fleece blankets for children in need,” Hillhouse said.

The school’s students then made blankets by tying the frayed edges of two pieces of fleece together.

Hillhouse said the kids were really proud to know they were helping young ones like themselves that may be sick or scared because they were being removed from their home unexpectedly.

“Several people shared stories with me about how someone in their life had been the recipient of a Project Linus blanket,” Hillhouse said. Project Linus is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization that provides new, handmade blankets to be given to children in crisis across the country. “I shared the stories with the kids and seemed to feel more connected to the project.”

In these days of standardized tests and No Child Left Behind, it is good to see that teachers in the area still have time to instruct their pupils in the most important subject there is ¬– life. “Teaching is about creating individuals who are good citizens, people who make positive contributions to society,” Hillhouse said.

That is a lesson this reporter could have used as kid. I’m glad Hillhouse was able to teach it to me today.

Reporter note: Hillhouse submitted the attached picture of students Ayana Ruiz, 6, Josaim Moreno and Noel Martinez, both 7, working on a Project Linus blanket.