“They’re like kid-themed blankets with patterns and colors and animals or sports or whatever ones we buy,” she said.

Fielder said she got the idea for the club when she participated in SPARTANS WILL. POWER Global Day of Service last year. For the service day, Fielder and a friend went to Grand Rapids to make blankets for kids in hospitals. When she returned to MSU, she checked to see if there was an organization that did something similar on campus, but said she didn’t see one. 

Fielder decided to start Cozy CoverZzz, whose name was inspired from the sleeping face emoji, she said.

Human biology sophomore Vito Vitale is another member of Cozy CoverZzz. He said Fielder encouraged him to join the club during one of their classes together. 

“She was just extremely passionate about it,” Vitale said. “It was a great idea. Once she explained it to me I was all for it, and I knew eventually a lot of other people would join, too.” 

Although turnout for the club was low at the first meeting on Oct. 5, both Fielder and Vitale said the numbers grew exponentially for the second meeting. Membership dues for the club are $10 and students have two weeks in between meetings to produce at least one blanket, Fielder and Vitale said.

So far, Vitale has made four blankets for the club. During Halloween weekend, he and his roommates, who are also in the club, put on a scary movie and each cranked out a blanket, he said.

The materials for the blankets come from Wal-Mart, as it’s generally cheaper than Michaels or Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores, Fielder said. She usually gets 30-35 blankets to pass out at their meetings. Instead of using two blankets to produce a single tie blanket, they only cut and tie one so they make twice as many, Fielder said.

Vitale likes to go with designs he thinks will resonate with kids more. When making the blanket, it’s hard to keep the ties at the end even. He described tying the blanket as being similar to tying a water balloon and said the first blanket was rough to make, but was worth it.

“I feel like there’s not a lot of opportunities where we actually get to give back,” he said. “I guess a lot of clubs are just like resume boosters and people just join like, ‘yeah I don’t really know what I do.’ But you go to a fundraiser every now and again. I guess it helps but here you actually get to see the difference that you’re making. You make the blankets for the kids in the hospital then you can come to the hospital, and actually drop them off.”

Sherri Szilagyi, Women and Children’s Shelter manager for City Rescue Mission of Lansing, said when organizations like Cozy CoverZzz drop off blankets to her shelter, they get added to the blanket supply and are given on an as-needed basis. This is to make sure the shelter is being a good steward of the donations it receives. 

Some people are overwhelmed at first when they come to the shelter and are in need of many things. After becoming acclimated with their new environment, guests are able to appreciate donations like those made by Cozy CoverZzz, Szilagyi said.

“Once here and settled, many guests will share their happiness with their accommodations and care, which includes the nice, warm blankets,” she said. “They are greatly appreciated by our guests and guests are grateful to be able to take the blankets with them when they leave for their new place.”

Although they were unable to meet with the children they donated the blankets to at the City Rescue Mission of Lansing, Vitale said as the club donates to more places they will be able to see the difference they are making.

Fielder said for Cozy CoverZzz meetings, students can stay just long enough to gather the supplies to make their blankets or they can stay and make a blanket there. The time it takes to make a blanket depends on the person making it, as Fielder said it takes her between 30 and 45 minutes to make a blanket while Vitale said it takes him around an hour. The next meeting will be Nov. 16, Fielder said.

Fielder said that she is very thankful to the Associated Students of Michigan State University, or ASMSU, for funding Cozy CoverZzz for the semester and the club is always looking for new members.

“It’s really easy and it’s fun and it’s not a big time commitment,” she said. “You can give an hour out of two weeks to help a little kid.”