Despite frozen temperatures on Monday morning, more than 100 people came to support You Matter 2 with its mission to provide lunches and blankets to those in need on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
On Jan. 20, volunteers of all ages showed up with friends and family to Heather Hill Elementary School at 10 a.m. to make sandwiches and tie blankets.

You Matter 2 is a youth organization run by Destiny Watson, and has a mission of empowering middle and high school students. You Matter 2 has a long history of participating in community service.
“This is our fifth year doing this event, but prior to making sandwiches and blankets, we’ve been doing other MLK service days,” said Watson’s mother, Tameka Spicer-Britten. “Normally we make about 300 lunches and about 100 blankets.”
Watson’s organization works with South Suburban Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS) to provide lunches to those in need.
PADS was founded in 1990, and has a mission of ending homelessness by providing meals, shelter and assistance with affordable housing. It has provided almost 2 million meals so far throughout its years of service.

Elementary School during the 10th annual MLK Day of Service
event in Flossmoor. (Summer Kiswani/H-F Chronicle)
Volunteers for You Matter 2 put together sandwiches, fruit cups, a variety of chips and water bottles into lunch bags. They wrote encouraging messages on the bags with colored markers. Some bags read “you are amazing,” “stay strong,” “chase your dreams,” and more.
One of those volunteers was Ashly Giddens. “This is my first year volunteering here,” said Giddens. “I have a child who attends Heather Hill Elementary School, so naturally I want to help promote change and help families.”
On the other side of the room, volunteers were making tie blankets in a variety of colors and patterns. You Matter 2 works with Project Kennedy to provide tie blankets to children with cancer.
Project Kennedy is an organization that was founded in honor of Kennedy Parker, a young woman who died from cancer in 2020. Kennedy’s family runs the organization and works to provide blankets, care packages and gift cards to those fighting the disease.
“This is my first year being here,” said LaQuesha M., a volunteer making a paw print blanket. “What inspired me was that I like to do service and I like to do crafting stuff, so when they said we’ll be making blankets, I wanted to do it.”