ACS collected over 300 hats during a December Hat Drive that were donated to the non-profit, Ellie’s Hats, on January 6. Members of the Student Council, who organized the hat drive, presented Shanice Beltran, an Ambassador for Ellie’s Hats, with three big boxes filled with hats that will be donated to children undergoing cancer treatment. Beltan plans to deliver the hats sometime this month to the Pediatric Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia specialty care unit of hematology and oncology in Voorhees.
“I am so grateful to see the outcome of this hat drive,” said Beltran, who is also an ACS parent and works in the ACS Early Education Center. “These hats are going to be a blessing to so many kids. I never expected to receive such a large number of hats.” Beltran’s daughter, Emma, underwent cancer treatment for a tumor in her kidney in 2018 and received hats to wear from the Maryland-based Ellie’s Hats, during her treatment.
“When children are going through chemo and experiencing hair loss, having a hat to wear gives them some comfort and helps them not think about the ugly side of cancer,” Beltran said. She said the children at the Voorhees clinic will get to choose which of the donated hats they would like to have, helping them reflect their creative and expressive side.
ACS families with students from kindergarten to the 12th grade donated to the Hat Drive, which ran from November 29 to December 20. Student Council Advisor Dave Genter said a total of 306 new hats were collected, in sizes ranging from babies to teenagers.
“The Student Council members were excited to organize this hat drive for Ellie’s Hats and we’re very pleased with the enthusiastic response from our school families,” Genter said.
ACS is holding two community service projects to bless the youth in our community during this Christmas season — a Hat Drive for children impacted by cancer and a children’s Toy Drive. Families with students in kindergarten to the 12th grade are being asked to participate in the Hat Drive and Early Education families are being asked to donate for the toy drive. Both drives will run concurrently for three weeks — from Monday, November 29 to Monday, December 20. Collection boxes will be located in classrooms and in various school hallways.
Thirty-one students from the 6th-12th grades were recently elected to serve on the 2021-2022 Student Council and the week of November 15 they visited various classrooms to launch their first service project — a Christmas hat drive to collect and donate children’s hats to raise awareness for childhood cancer and benefit the nonprofit, Ellie’s Hats.