BUCHANAN — For weeks, members of the Youth Advisory Council were busy tying together 30 blankets of varying patterns and colors to donate to local organizations during the Christmas season.

To help those in need stay warm throughout the winter months, The Michigan Gateway Community Foundation Youth Advisory Council gathered together in groups and individually to create 30 fleece tie blankets as part of its Christmas service project. The blankets will be donated to Redbud Area Ministries in Buchanan, Helping Hands of Cass County in Cassopolis, A.C.T.I.O.N. Ministries in Dowagiac, The Salvation Army in Niles, The National Honors Society at Brandywine High School and to Edwardsburg Public Schools.

YAC is a group of high school students from Buchanan, Cassopolis, Dowagiac, Niles and Edwardsburg, who are empowered to assess local youth needs, review grant applications and advise the Michigan Gateway Community Foundation on youth grant awards. Annually, YAC does several service projects.

YAC members had been toying with the idea of blanket making for their Christmas service project after hearing a group did a similar project five years ago.

“It is quite an undertaking,” said Serynn Nowlin, a representative for YAC. “Overall, it was a really positive experience. We had a few stations set up with Christmas music, and it was a really fun time.”

Nowlin was encouraged to join YAC after her school counselor told her about the opportunity. She also had a friend who had previously been on the YAC board.

Even with previous experience in making tie blankets, Nowlin said the mass production of the project required all hands-on deck from YAC representatives.

“We had an initial meeting where we made them all together as a YAC for an hour and a half,” Nowlin said. “The next weekend, the vast majority showed up again, and we were there for about two hours. Individually, at different times we could make it, I would go in and do some on my own. We had a couple other advisors go in and do some on their own as well, just so we could finish them up.”

Through YAC and working on service projects, Nowlin has been encouraged to branch out and meet other area students.

“I love all of the kids I’ve met in YAC,” Nowlin said. “They are all super sweet. I love working with them and hearing their ideas.”

Another student who helped participate in the service project, Caden Mattingly, a junior at Buchanan High School and YAC member, also joined after being encouraged by his counselor in eighth grade to get involved.

“I applied after she told me it looked good on college applications,” Mattingly said. “I didn’t really know what YAC was until I joined.”

Through Mattingly’s involvement in YAC, he has been able to volunteer and help people in need. Additionally, he has formed bonds with other representatives in YAC. Specifically, the blanket project touched Mattingly’s heart. 

“It felt a sense of accomplishment,” Mattingly said. “It’s very heartwarming to know we are helping the less fortunate get blankets for Christmas.”