When Fall City Elementary student Shane Riley was frozen out of his family car at church last December, he realized how cold it can be for families without a warm place to live.

Not long after, Riley and a few classmates started their own blanket donation drive at school. To date, they have collected 82 new and used blankets, and are now seeking venues that need them.

Third grade teacher Heath Anyan said Riley came to him and told him about the cold day when that car door was frozen shut.

“He thought about those people that were on the otuside of the door, and how cold that would be,” Anyan said. “He wanted to help. To hear him say that was one of the coolest things.”

Riley took on the project himself, working with fellow students P.J. Bennett, Meryl Stevens and Sidney Dinsmore-Swanson to created posters and spread the word.

“It was incredible,” Anyan said. “They ran with it.”

“We tried to attract people to get blankets,” Bennett said.

Anyan’s classroom is now packed with the new and used blankets, of all materials and colors, donated by Fall City Elementary families. Plans call for blankets to go to charities in the Valley and beyond.

“We want to see them go to people that don’t have homes or live in hospitals,” Dinsmore-Swanson said.

• Contact Fall City Elementary teacher Heath Anyan at anyanh@svsd410.org.