Rachel Dias set the bar high. She was going to raise $700 so kids in Hasbro Children’s Hospital would have a nice Christmas away from home.

She felt bad for the kids who would spend Christmas in the hospital, said her mother Kayla Dias. Rachel shared her concern as the pair was baking for Thanksgiving.

Kayla thought she might be able to do something if she could raise some money.

But how would this St. Rose of Lima sixth grader come up with enough money to make a difference? She turned to her trusty standbys, a glue gun and fabric and her parents.

Rachel has been making pillows for at least the last two years. She’s amazingly proficient. It takes her nine minutes to make one. And she does it without a single stitch.

That’s where the hot glue comes in. Seams

To her pillows are glued, although you would never know it. Not only do the seams appear to be professionally sewed, but they have withstood the test of time. They don’t come apart.

With such handiwork, Rachel thought she could sell enough pillows to meet her goal.

She put out the word on social media to family and friends. She would sell pillows at $5 – the buyers choice of themes – and welcomed any additional donations. Her parents backed the plan.

On Black Friday, Kayla and Rachel bought the fabric, and Rachel started taking orders. Her friends and family signed on.

Orders poured in, and Rachael went to work. By the time she reached her $700 goal, Rachel had made 82 pillows.

Then she got a boost from AAANortheast where her father, Mathew, works. AAA chipped in another $500.

Rachel and her mother had hoped to deliver a check to the hospital and visit some of the kids the money would benefit. That proved impossible because of Covid, and the risk of exposing patients to visitors might mean. Instead, they met with Chris Josephson at an off hospital Hasbro office on Dec. 22. The money was used to provide entertainment to kids stuck in the hospital for Christmas.

Now Rachel is thinking of making her benefit pillow sale an annual event, a suggestion that has the support of her family.