Fifteen to 20 homerooms donated a total of 40 blankets on Mar. 6 as a part of Homeroom Olympics. Teachers Mike Santos’s and Amy Johnson’s homerooms tied for the most blankets with eight blankets donated.

The blanket drive was organized by sophomore Mary Hope Liesegang  and senior Patrick Mattioli. Homerooms earned 200 points for participating and could possibly earn more for bringing in the most blankets.

“We’ve done this in past years at our church,” said Liesegang. “It was pretty small so I wanted to expand it to our school.”

The blankets were then given to the homeless. “We drove down to Ocean Beach and met the homeless people and gave them blankets and breakfast,” said Liesegang.

The homeless embraced and appreciated the blankets especially since many had recently lost their personal belongings to theft. “Their reaction was amazing; they were so thankful for the blankets,” said Liesegang. “We saw one enthusiastic lady who we had just met showing off her blanket and spreading it out for people to see.”

For her birthday Liesegang asked for McDonalds gift cards, which she used to buy breakfast for the homeless. She added, “You never really know how much little things like a blanket or a breakfast sandwich matter to people until you see these people and something as simple as that puts a huge smile on their face.”