Cheering for Babies!
When the John Mall High School Panther cheerleaders got together to root for another team this fall, their school and classmates didn’t mind. Instead, they joined them in their project to help save newborn lives globally.
Stephanie, age 16, is the only one of the cheerleaders who really knows how to knit, but the other eight girls are just as determined, so together they got the whole Walsenburg, Colorado, school involved in Save the Children’s Caps to the Capital project to save newborn lives globally.
“They’re pumping out several hats per week” said Edla Hurley, a Faroe Islands native whose knit shop attracted Stephanie as soon as it opened four years ago. A group of women began working on the project every Monday night in late September, using “all colors, all kinds of material,” she said. They call themselves “The Pitter-Patter Hatters.”
“Edla asked me if I were into knitting stuff for other people’s benefit,” said Stephanie, who hopes to go into a pre-law program at the University of Denver when she graduates next June. “She told me this program could save babies’ and I said why not? I brought it to the squad because my coach knits. The reaction of the squad was ‘That’s great, that’s so sweet,’ and everybody just really enjoys it now.”
Stephanie knits her caps but the other girls use hand-held looms to make their caps, which will save newborns’ lives by helping to keep them warm. “It’s becoming really popular at the school. Everybody wants the pattern. The school newspaper wrote an article. Everybody wants to know about it,” she said.
In a note to President Bush, Stephanie said she reminded him America is a wealthy country and surely can spare the funding for further simple programs that will help keep children alive around the world. “We’re going to try to knit enough to make a difference,” she said.
Now, that’s something to cheer about!
