(WTAJ) — An organization made up of former teachers is teaming up with a local girl scout troop to help victims of abuse.

Their goal is to not only support these survivors during dark times, but show the rest of the community that it doesn’t cost much to make somebody’s life better.

It seems like a simple arts and crafts project. The adults measure and cut the fabric. Then the girls knot the ends together. But the joy they get from knowing they’re making a difference is what inspires both groups to keep tying.

These young girls are lending a hand to kids they they may never meet just by tying a few pieces of fabric together

“They truly just get so excited. ‘We’re gonna tie blankets. Alright! We’re gonna tie blankets!’ They get really excited about it,” Kristine Walters, Troop Leader for Troop 43009, said.

The blankets go to Your Safe Haven, a nonprofit organization in Bedford County working with victims of sexual and domestic abuse. When many families arrive, all they have are the clothes on their back.

“They get it when you say, ‘You’re making a blanket for somebody who are in a situation, who may or may not have a blanket, for things beyond their control. They don’t have any control over the situation that they’re in, but we’re giving them something to comfort them’,” Walters said.

The project started in 2019 through Delta Kappa Gamma. The organization, made up of women who are current and former teachers and educators, has a special connection to the girl scouts.

“They have found a direct correlation between women who were girl scouts and those who go on become educators or in the education field and join our organization as an adult,” Walters said.

When it came time to start making the blankets, the women went to their local troop, who have helped make more than 40 blankets over the past few months.

“They don’t necessarily understand the magnitude of it, but they really understand the need,” Walters said.

The need to not just help one organization, but their entire community, on their own time, even with their own money from cookie sales.

“The first things that came out of their mouths were, “Why can’t we give some money to the library to help them wit their programs? Oh wait! Why don’t we give money to the school to help kids that don’t have backpacks? Why don’t we give some money to the food bank so they can buy food for the people who need it?” Walters said.

Thinking of others before themselves.

“And I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness. These are wonderful things to do.’ They got it and I didn’t have to say that to them,” Walters said.

As the girls finished over a dozen more blankets in one night, they can’t wait to start more.

Walters hopes that the people get these blankets can one day pay it forward to others in similar situations. It doesn’t have to be today, next six month or even in the next six years, but something simple, like a blanket, can make a world of difference in somebody’s life.