Iowa students package Brave Bags for hospitalized kids

HUMBOLDT, Iowa (WHO) — Seventh graders at Humboldt Middle School created 380 care packages for hospitalized children on Wednesday.

Katie Phillips is a seventh-grade social studies teacher who founded the nonprofit, Brave Bags . It started as a class project in 2017 to teach her students how to put others before themselves.

With the help of community donations, the project grew quickly. In six years, over 1,000 Brave Bags have been distributed to hospitals throughout the state.

The project has four parts: marketing, collecting donations, packaging, and delivery.

In February, we reported that the class received over $4,000 in monetary donations, along with supplies that were donated. In total, this year they collected over $12,000 in charitable donations along with the supplies.

On Tuesday, students sorted through and organized the donations. Then on Wednesday, they packaged their Brave Bags.

They made a total of 380 care packages. Each was created based on age and gender. Some of the supplies inside the bags were books, pencils, notepads, stuffed animals, and more.

A portion of the Brave Bags will go to Humboldt Hospital, and the remainder will be delivered to Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines on Friday.

While this year’s project is almost complete, they accept donations year-round for the next class to make Brave Bags. For more information on donations, contact bravebags2017@gmail.com .

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