Changing lives one pillow case at a time.

Junior Tameka Judson and her friends are making pillowcases for children in the hospital.
Judson was watching a segment in a hospital and noticed the rooms were all white and lacked
color, so she started the “pillowcase project” as a way to bring some color to the rooms. She
and her friends have already made 30 children happy in their first delivery on Feb. 15 and are
excited to make 30 children in the cancer ward happy later this week on March 8.

Judson saw a segment on Channel 4 news in the local Children’s Hospital and immediately
noticed the lack of color in the room. She loves color so this touched her heart and gave her the
urge to do something about it.

“My bedroom is a rainbow of colors - every color of the sun,” Judson said. “Colors make me
happy, so I was stuck by the whiteness of those hospital rooms.”

Judson didn’t like knowing that there were kids who have to stay there for long periods of time,
in a blank, white room. She wanted to bring as much joy as she could to the patients in the
hospital.

“When we delivered our first set of pillow cases, I can’t describe the joy we saw in those
children’s faces,”Judson said.

Judson and the other girls help patients pick a special pillowcase out that they want, and then
they talk with them and get to know their stories. They listen to the kids hopes and dreams and
help them feel important.

“These girls care so much, and it shows in what they do and how they present the gifts,”
hospital administrator Doug Lent said. “When they delivered their first batch of what I call
‘colorful love,’ the girls went to each child and helped the child select the perfect pillowcase.
Those pillowcases bring so much wonderful energy to the hospital.”

A four year old girl named Sara who had a 21-day stay at the hospital picked out a pillowcase
with bunnies and carrots on it. She named it “Whiskers” and took it home after she was
discharged.

“That pillowcase made a huge difference for our Sara,” Sara’s mom, Valeria Gallegos said. “I
had no idea what kind of impact it would have. Tameka was right. Color did make a difference
for Sara. Now that she’s at home, she still sleeps with ‘Whiskers’ every night.”

The group is planning on delivering the next batch on March 8. The group meets every Tuesday
and Thursday from 4-6 p.m. and every Sunday from 2-4 p.m. at Judson’s house.
“I want this group to make more than 1,000 pillowcases for hospitalized children before I go off
to college,” Judson said. “With a few more sewing machines and a few more volunteers, we will
do it.”