KARNS, Tenn. — A Girl Scout in Karns is paying it forward to help kids in East Tennessee.
Avery Hanson is currently working to make at least 25 weighted blankets to donate to kids in foster care.
She said the blankets help with anxiety and stress by putting pressure on people when they sleep, which helps provide a sense of calm.
The blankets are made out of flannel and filled with polypropylene pellets to give them weight.
Once completed, the blankets will go to the Helen Ross McNabb Center's foster care division to help children -- and they are hopefully they can get more than enough to supplies.
Avery said she came up with the idea after one of the blankets helped her with anxiety.
"I myself have anxiety, and I struggled a lot with it in the past couple of years. We had a friend gift us one, and so I have been using it for the past couple of months and it has helped me a lot. So I wanted to do that for other people who may not be able to afford them," Avery Hanson said.
Avery said she's working on her Silver Award -- the highest award a Girl Scout Cadette can earn.
Her mother said Avery came up with the idea right after her 5th grade year, and said she's dedicated to making these blankets for much more than just the award.
"Once she experienced that feeling, she said 'I want people to be able to feel like this.' And we decided to make and donate them to kids in foster care, because, diagnosis or not, kids in foster care have a great deal of anxiety just from their circumstances and the things that they go through, so it just seemed like a perfect match," her mother Bailey Hanson said.
The blankets themselves can cost upward of $100. Avery said her goal is to make 25 of them. She's collecting materials and said she's about halfway there.
If you'd like to help, they are asking specifically for 100% flannel or 100% cotton fabric in 2-yard lengths to make more blankets.
You can drop that fabric off at the donation box at Beaver Ridge United Methodist Church in Karns at 7753 Oak Ridge Highway. Bailey said the box is right inside the church building beside the office.
Her mother said they cannot accept any monetary donations as it goes against Girl Scout rules.