A Good Cause -- The gift of the cuddle

Some very hard-working students at Peterson Elementary School are

helping to make a difference in the lives of other children in need.

At the beginning of February, the GATE-centered school’s student

council started a two-week drive to collect blankets. The fund-raiser

going by the name “A Chance to Cuddle” benefits young patients at CHOC.

Flyers describing the purpose of the fund-raiser were sent out to

students’ homes and the response was so overwhelming that the two-week

drive was extended. In addition to donating money to the cause, most

people donated blankets, some of which were home spun.

Flyers were even delivered to the Huntington Beach City School

District, which responded with several blanket donations.

Nearly 160 comfort blankets have been collected through the drive and

will be donated to the pediatric intensive care unit at CHOC.

All donated blankets have been embroidered by volunteers and bear the

fund-raiser’s name.

Like the Peanuts character, Linus, these CHOC children have been given

a sense of security with the blankets.

“This is an absolutely wonderful way to do community service work for

one of our own, and a project like this helps our kids work toward a

worthwhile cause,” Peterson Principal Dareen Yonts said.

“A Chance to Cuddle” was first introduced by third-grade student Maren

Sersansie, who was looking for a way to “help other children in need or

who were hurt,” Yonts said.

The school got in touch with CHOC and asked if it could donate the

blankets to the hospital, and have since done so on two occasions.

The fund-raiser is named in honor of the memory of a close family

friend of the Sersansie’s,two-year-old Chance Biedleman, who last summer

drowned in the family pool at his Huntington Beach home.

“I’m glad that I helped other children and was able to do this,” Maren

said.

The recently completed, “A Chance to Cuddle” blanket drive, was the

second staged by the school. Last summer the first drive garnered 30

blankets, which also benefited the pediatric intensive care unit at CHOC.