Glories Happy Hats

In 2004, more than 120 Join Hands Day events across five eastern states created more than 1,300 Happy Hats for hospitalized children in 15 pediatric hospitals.

Later in the same year, hundreds of volunteers gathered at a southern Virginia amusement park to make more than 1,000 Happy Hats for delivery to critically ill children throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, which covers Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and southern West Virginia.

But what exactly are these Happy Hats that seem to be causing such a volunteer craze?

In short, they are jester-style hats hand-sewn from a variety of soft, colorful materials and decorated with ribbons and pompoms. They are the brainchild of Thrivent Financial members Susan and Ali Khorsand of Falls Church, Virginia, who founded Glories Happy HATS Inc. as a way for volunteers to show community support and bring joy to critically ill children and their families in hospitals across the country.

“We have doctors, nurses and hospital administrators who look forward to receiving the Glories hats as a therapeutic resource and symbol of community support, hope and laughter for children in their care,” says Susan Khorsand.

Khorsand shares the story of a 6-year-old girl who, at an oncology ward for her third injection of chemo, was given a Happy Hat made out of material showing a girl doing the hula. The girl’s mother was extremely thankful for the hat, saying “my daughter was dancing the hula all over the oncology ward. It made us both laugh at a sad time in our lives.”

Khorsand, herself, is a cancer survivor and realizes “happy” thoughts and moral support are important during the stress of illness. She cites a recently published study* that shows community and classmate support is critical to a young patient’s outlook.

“Our challenge is to join hands and reach out and make sure all hospitalized children can receive the caring, happy thoughts captured within a Glories Hat,” Khorsand says.

But how can people get involved in a Happy Hats project?

According to Khorsand, there are four different ways you can get involved in the production side of the project:

1. Glories HATS Project® workshops are event-driven presentations of the project. This event introduces the project to new regions. “The Glories HATS Project® workshop is a social enterprise designed to build youth leadership and service-learning opportunities while it provides therapeutic support for pediatric inpatients,” says Khorsand.
2. HATS Headquarters®. This is an exportable “turn-key” factory that is shipped to a permanent site. It is designed to schedule weekly HATS workshops and it is designed as a vehicle for youth to access regular and consistent community service hours to earn the President’s Volunteer and Congressional Service Awards. The HATS Headquarters® aids in the development of service as a way of life.
3. HATS Network™ is a series of HATS Headquarters® sites throughout a region linked to a children’s hospital. At this level, with 20 HATS Headquarters® supplying 500 Glories hats each to a children’s hospital, hospital demand can be met.
4. “HATS Kits” are pre-made Glories HATS that serve as a base hat and are sent out to groups interested in hosting a hat decorating party and delivering them to their local hospital.

Glories has generated more than 350,000 service hours with more than 80,000 youth participants creating and donating more than 60,000 hats to children’s hospitals across the nation.

For more information on Glories HATS kits and activities, contact Khorsand, the director of project development for the Glories HATS project by e-mailing gloriesinc@aol.com or by calling (703) 506-1415. You also can visit the organization’s Web site at www.glorieshappyhats.org.

*Psycho-social Support for Patients in Pediatric Oncology: The Influences of Parents, Schools, Peers and Technology, Lalita K. Suzuko, Ph.D., Pamela M. Kato, Ed.M, Ph.D., 2003.

 

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