LARGO, Fla. — As she once again gets her students to participate in a blanket drive for Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, Betsy Mauro, a middle school teacher at Pinellas Preparatory Academy, said the children in her class are more like family.

“I don't call (them) my students,” she said. “They're my kids.”

What You Need To Know

  •  Students at Pinellas Preparatory Academy are putting blankets together to give to kids at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg

  •  The students plan on making more than 100 blankets for All Children's    

  •  Next year, Betsy Mauro, the teacher who organized the drive, said she hopes to include more students in the project so they can make enough blankets for the whole hospital

For years now, Mauro has encouraged the kids in her math classes to help provide warmth for other children who may be experiencing a cold reality at the hospital.

“You're always cold, especially in the cancer ward,” Mauro said. “But even in the emergency rooms, even in the regular rooms, it just the kids need that sense of comfort and caring that they can always get.”

Mauro said she knows personally how cold things can get when you have a sick child.

Just before he turned 17, her son, Chris, was diagnosed with leukemia, and for more than three years, he was treated at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital.

“Unfortunately, you have to have chemo for that long with leukemia," Mauro said.

Chris eventually went into remission, but the cancer later returned, and eight years ago, Chris died.

Mauro credits All Children’s for helping her son during his cancer treatments.

“All Children's gave us that wonderful extra time with him that we might not have had,” she said.

Because people helped her and her son during that difficult time, she said it felt natural to want to do something in return.

So, each year she has students spend two days cutting and tying fabric together to make fleece blankets that will be given to the young patients at All Children’s.

“This gives me a chance to spread that community, that sense of giving back to other kids, and shows how wonderful kids can give back to other kids,” Mauro said. “And it's not that hard to do.”

For Mauro, watching her students — her kids — working to help sick children is something overwhelmingly special, because it’s doing some good while honoring her son’s memory.

“Just pure, absolute joy of seeing it come to fruition and continue over and over again each year in his memory,” she said.

Mauro said she and the students plan to make more than 100 blankets over the next couple days.

She said she hopes to expand the project next year to add more grades so they can make enough blankets for each child staying at All Children’s Hospital.