Indianapolis teacher makes more than 600 scarves — one for every student in his school

Jeffrey Thomas wanted to do something nice for his students. 

In his first year at Lew Wallace School 107, the special education teacher said his fellow teachers and their students took him in. They made him part of the family, Thomas said. 

So, after watching his students arrive in near freezing temperatures with sometimes nothing more than a sweatshirt, Thomas wanted to do something nice for them. 

"Scarves," he thought. 

Nearly 650 of them. 

Over a few months, Thomas clipped coupons and shopped Black Friday sales at fabric stores. He went through two cutting mats, several pairs of scissors and cut more than 100 yards of fabric down into eight-inch wide fleece scarves. He made them in more than 50 patterns, so the kids would have a choice.

Earlier this week, Thomas handed out a scarf to all 600-plus students at the elementary school. 

Sha'Unnah McWhirter picked out one that was pink, yellow, blue, teal with a little bit a white. A pretty plaid piece of fleece, the first-grader had it wrapped around her neck two days later as she headed to lunch. 

"It's kind of like a rainbow," she said. 

The school held an assembly, talked to the kids about kindness and then Thomas, wearing one of his scarves, told the room full of students they'd all be getting one too. 

"I felt like Oprah," Thomas said. "You get a scarf, you get a scarf, you get a scarf."

He had all the scarves lined up, by pattern, on shelves and tables in his classroom and let each students come in — five at a time — and "shop." 

When first-grader Hassan Bello got to pick something out for himself, he choose one with monster trucks on it. 

"I like monster trucks," explained the seven-year-old. 

Bello said it's the only scarf he has. 

Lew Wallace is a unique school. Part of the Indianapolis Public Schools district, it sits on the northwest side of the district. With a recent transfer, the school has students from 34 different countries. Many of them are warm countries, Thomas said, and this is their first exposure to snow.

Many of Lew Wallace's students are learning English for the first time and most of them come from poor homes where their families may not be able to afford things like scarves and Christmas gifts. 

"The school's socioeconomic status is hard," said school counselor Sherri Barrow. "This time of year, in our neighborhood, it's especially hard."

What started out as a small gesture, though, has become bigger. Thomas said he was so moved by the students' reactions and outpouring of support from the school community that he wants to make it an annual event. He's set up a website and plans to start fundraising now, in hopes that he can take it to other schools, too. 

"I don't want this feeling to stop," he said.

Learn more at scarvesforstudents.org.

Call IndyStar education reporter Arika Herron at (317) 444-6077. Follow her on Twitter: @ArikaHerron.