The Passing Hats club has made 61 hats for cancer patients over the past few months, and had them delivered on Feb. 14 to local hospitals.

The Passing Hats club makes hats for cancer patients. Recently, they began to make smaller hats meant for children’s dolls or stuffed animals. The hat goes in a matching set with a youth hat, letting the child patients match with their doll or stuffed animal.

“We really started strong this year, and I think it’s been a big hit,” sponsor Pamela Jones said. “I mean, we’ve had a lot of hats donated.”

The club meets every Tuesday during A block in room G242 at the 9th Grade Campus and A block on Thursday in room 2300. At each meeting, several members make hats or rubber band bracelets.

“People are kind of on and off, so it’s hard to get an actual count,” president Shruti Subramaniam said. “I’m hoping to get more people consistently. I’m going to estimate that over the entire time we’ve probably gotten about 20 people to join this club.”

Many of the members have had a family member or friend with cancer. Both of freshman Jenna Fitzgerald’s grandmothers have been diagnosed with cancer.

“I feel like now I have something to do because whenever I have time, I like doing this, so it’s giving me like a sense of purpose,” Fitzgerald said.

The club started a few months before the end of the previous school year. At the beginning of the year, the club received many donations.

“My neighbors actually donated quite a bit of money for this cause and that was helpful, and I think some other people have also donated,” Subramanium said. “We’ve gotten plenty of donations of yarn, which is also really nice. I hope to keep that coming.”

Students in the club have been working to get more people to join and plan to make a Passing Hats T-shirt for publicity.

“Once we wear [the T-shirts], hopefully we can get the message out,” Subramanium said.

Hats are continually being made, and the next batch will be delivered during the Big Event on April 1. After that, Jones said they would like to deliver one more batch before the school year ends.

“I think it does good when you can do something here at school to help somebody out,” Jones said. “It’s easy, and you get service hours.”