PHOTO PROVIDED Students in Mrs. Amy Smith’s classroom at Centre Hall-Potter Elementary are shown modeling their new hats made by the Prayer Shawl Ministry needleworkers at Bald Eagle United Presbyterian Church in Mill Hall.

CENTRE HALL — It all started with an outline of a hat on a sheet of paper that students in two Centre Hall classrooms were tasked with coloring to meet their ideal expectations of a colorful hat that they would like to wear to keep them warm this winter.

What those first grade students didn’t know when they were coloring their paper hat is that a group of Prayer Shawl Ministry needleworkers at the Bald Eagle United Presbyterian Church in Mill Hall would take those crayon colored pictures and create hats using the same colors (or as close to the same colors) as the student chose for their colorful hat, and eventually would surprise the children with their very own hat to wear.

In what the Prayer Shawl Ministry members call “the Hat Project,” Alison Kramer, the liaison between the Prayer Shawl Ministry needleworkers and the two classroom teachers at Centre Hall-Potter Elementary School, worked with the teachers to make sure each student would receive a warm hat on the hat distribution day. Kramer, a needleworker herself, attends the Prayer Shawl Ministry monthly meetings and kept the needleworkers updated on the number of hats that would be needed and the progress of the project.

This is Kramer’s third year of overseeing the annual Hat Project for the Prayer Shawl Ministry. The project first began when Kramer and her friend, Amy Smith, a teacher at Centre Hall-Potter Elementary, were conversing. Smith shared that she would love to have her students be able to do an activity of coloring the hat pictures, but she didn’t know of anyone who could actually make the hats to match the student’s colored drawings.

As it turns out, Smith could not have found a better person than Kramer to confide in, because Kramer is actively involved with the Prayer Shawl Ministry and took the idea to the needleworkers at their next monthly meeting.

The Prayer Shawl Ministry needleworkers agreed wholeheartedly to construct the hats from yarn that is donated each month for their use. Hats are made using specific guidelines — they must be eight inches around and tall so they fit a child’s head nicely, and each hat gets topped with a fluffy pompom.

This year, 40 hats were made for the students in Miss (Kaitlyn) Snyder’s and Mrs. (Amy) Smith’s classrooms at Centre Hall-Potter Elementary. Once all the hats had been crafted and returned at the Prayer Shawl Ministry’s January meeting, Kramer arranged a delivery date with the classrooms. Delivery day at Centre Hall-Potter Elementary was Friday, Jan. 23, just a few days before a major snow storm would hit the region bringing nearly a foot of snow and tumbling temperatures into single digits. The hats would certainly come in handy for students who would be outside.

Kramer was joined by other Prayer Shawl Ministry members — Brenda Masden, Keri Hensler and Denise Stevenson — in presenting the hats to the two classrooms. Needless to say, the children were both surprised and thrilled with their new hats! Smiles adorned each of their small faces as they modeled their new hats and showed them off to their classmates and teacher.

On delivery days, Kramer also takes along a few extra hats just in case there are students that move into the area after the coloring portion of the Hat Project is completed.

“We want to be sure everyone has a hat to wear. We call those new students up privately and tell them that all the other kids get a hat to match the picture they colored, but they are so very special that you get to choose the hat that you want. No one feels left out and each child in the classroom gets their own new hat to wear,” Kramer said.

In addition to presenting the hats, the needleworkers also took along various crochet hooks, knitting needles and yarn to show the children how easy it can be to learn to crochet or knit. They also allowed the children to ask questions while sharing their hobbies of crocheting and knitting with the children.

Kramer, wearing a beautifully knitted sweater she chose specifically for the cold day and more importantly to show the children a project that was accomplished with skeins of yarn, showed the children examples of a lapaghan and a prayer shawl that had been made by the Prayer Shawl Ministry needleworkers.

The Prayer Shawl Ministry also made hats for four kindergarten classrooms at Robb Elementary School in Lock Haven. Students in Mrs. Condo, Mrs. Connor, Mrs. Snyder and Mrs. Wagner’s classrooms were presented with their new hats in mid-January. The Prayer Shawl Ministry needleworkers made and donated a total of 81 hats to Robb Elementary this year.