Students from the Tyrone health tech classes stepped up this spring to support the “Easter for Eli” Foundation by making Easter baskets for hospitalized children.

“Easter for Eli” was founded by Martin Garrett in memory of his three-year-old son, Elias, who passed away from non-Hodgkin’s T-cell Lymphoma in 2009.

The group collects and distributes baskets for children hospitalized over the Easter Holiday. Last year they delivered 5,000 baskets to sick children at 16 hospitals in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Delaware, and Wahington DC.

Tyrone health tech teacher Christie Taylor and her students began supporting Easter for Eli six years ago.

This year Taylor opened the program up to all teachers and staff members at the high school.

“It warms your heart to see how generous people can be,” Taylor said. “I think that the reason why is because these are students that want to get into health care is to keep in mind that no matter what you’re going through someone can always have it worse.”

The baskets are given to children from infancy to teenagers. The items are sorted by the students and put in categories depending on their age.

Taylor was pleased with this year’s donations and hopes her students can learn from the example set by those battling serious illnesses.

“Being mindful of all of the things that are possible can often help others with their problems,” Taylor said.