PJ Agro, a 7th grader at Crispell, collected and donated 69 knit hats to local cancer patients through the project “Hats for Hope.”

Colleen McCarthy, a cancer patient herself, started Hats for Hope in 2014. Her goal was to give fellow cancer patients a hat so they would always have something soft and warm throughout their cancer journey.

PJ brought this project to Crispell for the first time this year. He was part of the project for several years with his Cub Scout troop. Colleen McCarthy was his best friend’s aunt and like family to PJ too. They made collecting hats an annual event for the troop.  

“This year, my dad told me that he was going to try to bring Hats for Hope to his school through his club Kids Changing the World,” PJ said. “That inspired me to try and do it through Crispell as well. Everyone needs a little comfort and warmth sometimes, especially this year, so I tried it.”

PJ figured it would go well with an entire school participating. Between what he collected through Crispell and the donations from his dad’s school, they donated 125 hats to the Spagnoli Family Cancer Center at Garnet Health Medical Center here in Middletown. (PJ’s dad is Peter Agro, a teacher in the Monroe-Woodbury district.) PJ said he will continue it next year through the National Junior Honor Society. 

 

Each hat collected had a card inside with the following message:

“Crispell Middle School would like to offer you this hat in honor of an extraordinary woman, Colleen McCarthy. Colleen was a cancer patient who began the Hats for Hope program in which she donated hats to fellow cancer patients so they would always have something soft, warm and from the heart close to them throughout their journey. Colleen’s favorite quote which she lived her life by was: ‘Cherish yesterday, live for today and dream of tomorrow.’ May your tomorrows be filled with happiness, love and peace.”