Two Truckee students have wrapped up their Eagle Scout projects that provided handmade blankets to patients at Tahoe Forest Hospital and used coats to Truckee Elementary students in need.

Ian Smith, an eight grader at Alder Creek Elementary School, was able to make and collect 64 handmade blankets culminating in 100 hours of community service hours. In addition to the five blankets he made with his family, Smith reached out to relatives across the country who sent him their hand made blankets.

“Everyday for about a week we had a new box on our porch filled with blankets,” he said. “There were a lot of moving parts but in the end we got it done.”

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Though he was unable to deliver the blankets to the cancer center he did get to visit the patients in the Senior Care Center. Going room to room Smith would let them choose from four different blankets.

“It was a little more personal for me because I was giving out something that I made,” he said.

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Smith recalled one patient that suffered from cerebral palsy. “She couldn’t speak but you could tell she was really happy,” he said.

Aidan Anderson, a sophomore at Truckee High School, completed his Eagle Scout by collecting over 50 coats for Truckee Elementary students in need.

“It felt good because there’s a lot of kids who aren’t fortunate enough to have coats in the winter,” said Anderson.

Smith and Anderson delivered the remaining blankets and adult coats that were collected to a homeless shelter in Reno along with bags packed with socks, combs, toothbrushes, toothpaste, water, soap and snacks.

“You’re giving Christmas in a bag. It just warmed my heart,” said Smith. “You gotta look at what it would be like to be homeless. Everyone there is just going through some hard times.”

Hannah Jones is a reporter for the Sierra Sun. She can be reached at 530-550-2652 or hjones@sierrasun.com.