The Joy Squad!

At Lamar Junior High, Jennifer Wagner was able to foster a strong sense of community and compassion amongst her students that will carry on to future generations of students, thanks to her LEAF-funded grant, The Joy Squad.

Purpose and Impact

The Joy Squad is a creative and innovative outreach club that was designed to engage students in a meaningful way through the art of crochet! Students received the resources to learn basic crochet stitches which allowed them to handcraft blankets to support Project Linus, an organization dedicated to providing comfort to children aged 0-18 in the United States who are seriously ill or in need.

It is a strong, widespread initiative. Students a part of this club will extend their reach to local homeless and women and children shelters with blankets and hand-written, heartfelt cards.

There is genuine thought and drive behind this project. Beyond putting together blankets and cards, these students genuinely care about those in need in their community and are playing a big role in ensuring their health and well-being. Starting so young having so much thought and care about their surroundings is sure to set these students up for success in their future, making them strong, caring leaders wherever they may be!

More Than a Blanket

Along with basic crochet skills, these junior high students were able to gain a multitude of important life skills. First, they learned they importance of giving back to their community. They also became strong communicators and innovators. By merging creative skill-building with community service, students were able to understand the value of empathy, responsibility, and purposeful artistic expression. Overall, the impact these students had on their community and on themselves would not have been possible without these LEAF-funded resources!

A special thank you to our donor community for making grants like this possible!  If you would like to invest in public education and support our mission, please email our office at leaf@lcisd.org.