By Josh Chase, Correspondent

Brianna Jo Plissken had never participated in a community service project before this year, when she started sixth-grade at Hidden Oaks Middle School.
But after helping make blankets for needy children through a group called Teens in Community Service – or TICS – the Savage resident says volunteerism will forever be a part of her life.

Plissken is one of 19 students from Hidden Oaks and Twin Oaks middle schools to participate in TICS during the 2008-09 school year. Over the year, she and her fellow volunteers designed and created over 50 blankets, which they delivered to the Alpha Pregnancy Resource Center in Savage and the Cedar Alternative High School in Eagan.

“It sounded fun because you get to make blankets for little children who need them,” she says. “I just liked knowing that I’m doing something good for the children.”

TICS was founded five years ago by teacher Dorothy Aho, who retired from the Prior Lake-Savage Area School District last June.Hidden Oaks Middle School
students Brianna Jo Plissken (left)
and Shaiann Lilley show off
examples of the blankets they made
for needy children through their
work in Teens in Community
Service. (Photo by Josh Chase)

But to Aho, the children who receive the blankets aren’t the only ones who benefit from the program.

“It helps me out, too,” says Aho. “It gives me a chance to be with kids and it gives me a chance to give back to my community.”

After teaching 35 years, Aho says working with children means too much to her to give it up completely, which is why she began working as a substitute teacher after retiring.

“I couldn’t [quit teaching] cold turkey, so I came back to work with the kids,” she says.

It was out of that love for children that TICS was born. The program gives Aho a chance to combine education and charity, the importance of which her parents emphasized from a young age. (In addition to TICS, Aho regularly volunteers at metro-area veterans homes and donates platelets on a weekly basis.)

So, when the teacher decided she needed a new after-school activity to become involved in – she had served as a yearbook adviser for more than 20 years and was looking for a change – a charity-based program seemed like a natural fit.

“I thought, ‘Well maybe I’ll do something community service-related and show the kids how to do something for somebody else,’” says Aho. “I was already making [blankets] for my family – for baby gifts – and I just thought this would be an easy project. It doesn’t take a lot of sewing. It’s just a lot of cutting and a lot of time.”

In all, it’s been time well-spent, says Aho. Through TICS, over 300 blankets have been delivered to area youth. And just as importantly, she adds, the program has shown students how their selfless efforts can affect the world around them.

“They need to help out in our world,” the teacher explains. They need to be there for others. And if we teach that to our kids when they’re young, it will continue on.”

Shaiann Lilley of Prior Lake is an eighth-grade student at Hidden Oaks and says she couldn’t agree more.

Lilley joined TICS at the end of last school year after Aho, who her social studies teacher at the time, directed all students to participate in a community service project.

“It felt good because you know you did something good for someone other than yourself,” she says. “When you’re going to TICS, you could be out going to the movies or something else, but you’re not. You’re doing good for little kids.”

Lilley enjoyed volunteering so much that she joined the group again this year – even when it wasn’t part of an assignment. And to top it all off, she adds, making blankets is just plain fun.

“I’ve been trying to convince my mom to go to the fabric store to get materials,” she says. “It was really a good experience.”

Josh Chase can be reached at (952) 345-6375 or jchase@swpub.com.