Twins Jade and Amber Hollister, 6, giggled as they put on two fuzzy winter hats at the same time.
“I picked pink because it is my favorite color,” Amber said.
Jade took her hat off her head and placed it next to her sister’s.
“And I got this one because blue is my favorite color,” she said.
The girls were among many Scenic Hill Elementary School students collecting free hats donated by the knitting group at Kent Senior Activity Center. The ladies worked all summer long to knit 700 distinctive and colorful hats to distribute to the students and their siblings.
“Watching the kids’ faces is the best part of this,” said Buffy Bright, special education teacher. “They are so exited and the funny thing is, almost every child knows exactly which hats they want right away.”
Hats were handed out in the school lobby during Parent Conference Week.
“I was so excited when I saw the signs about the hats,” said Amy Hollister, mom. “It’s so neat the school and senior center are going out of their way to make these for the children.”
The idea for the project came to Bright last year when she was talking to her mother on the telephone.
“My mom told me about how she was knitting hats to give away to school children and I thought, ‘we should do that here,'” Bright said. “I made a call to the senior center and they jumped right on board.”
Bright said many of the elementary school’s kids don’t have enough winter-weather wear.
“I remember before this project started, I was looking out my window at the kids playing in the playground and I noticed many didn’t have anything warm on,” she said. “I thought this would be a great way to give the kids what they need and to give them color choices. They don’t have much to choose from in their lives, but they get to pick out whatever color and design of hat they want.”
There were baby hats, beanies and hats with tassels. There were yellow hats, dark green hats and striped hats.
“The ladies usually just make hats to give to soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, which are mainly just the color brown, so I think they got a little carried away when they got to design for the young children,” Bright said, laughing.
The students made two large thank-you cards to send to the knitting group.
“We are really grateful for what the group has given us,” Bright said. “And we cherish the community connection. We are always looking for ways to get the school and community together.”
To donate yarn for hats, contact Bright at 253-373-3641.
Talk to us
Please share your story tips by emailing editor@kentreporter.com.
To share your opinion for publication, submit a letter through our website https://www.kentreporter.com/submit-letter/. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) Please keep letters to 300 words or less.
