When she was nine, Canadian Faith Dickinson was concerned that an aunt who was going through chemo for cancer was shivering. Faith made her a big soft fleece blanket that comforted her aunt so much, the girl started making them for other chemo patients.

Then she thought of other people who might need a soft cuddle. There were so many, she created Cuddles for Cancer, an operation that distributed blankets she made in her family home’s basement for five years.

At 14 she moved the work into a drop-in center where volunteers could help her make even more blankets. Thousands of blankets have gone out from this Ontario workshop, to people living on the streets, to Canadian vets with PTSD and to active-duty soldiers, to first responders, to people in elder care, and of course to cancer patients.

To people who think this is an odd way for a kid to spend her time, Faith says it’s not at all, and she goes into Ontario schools to talk to other young people about joining her in making a difference in the lives of people who may be suffering.