Students in the fashion design and Public & Human Service Career-Pathway classes at Pahoa High & Intermediate School participated in the national “Miles of Pillowcase Smiles” project coordinated by the ConKerr Cancer organization during Childhood Cancer Month in September.
Students in the fashion design and Public & Human Service Career-Pathway classes at Pahoa High & Intermediate School participated in the national “Miles of Pillowcase Smiles” project coordinated by the ConKerr Cancer organization during Childhood Cancer Month in September.
ConKerr Cancer’s goal was to sew at least one pillowcase for each child currently in treatment during the month of September. Home Economics/Family & Consumer Sciences (FACS) students sewed colorful pillowcases with Hawaiian prints which will be donated to children who are battling cancer throughout the state and nation.
Funding for the pillowcases was provided by a state “Good Idea” grant from the Public Schools of Hawaii Foundation.
The ConKerr Cancer organization began in Pennsylvania when Cindy Kerr’s son was diagnosed with cancer in 2002. Kerr’s cheery homemade pillowcases helped to brighten up her son’s hospital room.
After seeing how the pillowcases put a smile on his face, Kerr began making pillowcases for other children in the oncology unit. The pillowcase program, “A Case for Smiles,” has since provided nearly 490,000 pillowcases made by thousands of volunteers from North America and South Africa.
More information about the national pillowcase project can be found at: www.conkerrcancer.org.