Kanawha Elementary School raises funds for Wood County Society
Kanawha Elementary School speech pathologist Marcia Mahoney and fifth graders Brie Winans and Traeton Shannon celebrate Hat Day which benefits Wood County Society. (Photo by Candice Black)
Kanawha Elementary School students donated one dollar and wore a hat Thursday to benefit Wood County Society. (Photo by Candice Black)
Kanawha Elementary School speech pathologist and facilitator of Hat Day Marcia Mahoney stands with fifth graders Brie Winans and Traeton Shannon who donated one dollar to wear their hats to benefit Wood County Society in honor of Developmental Disability Awareness Month. (Photo by Candice Black)
Kanawha Elementary School speech pathologist Marcia Mahoney and fifth graders Brie Winans and Traeton Shannon celebrate Hat Day which benefits Wood County Society. (Photo by Candice Black)
Kanawha Elementary School students donated one dollar and wore a hat Thursday to benefit Wood County Society. (Photo by Candice Black)
Kanawha Elementary School speech pathologist and facilitator of Hat Day Marcia Mahoney stands with fifth graders Brie Winans and Traeton Shannon who donated one dollar to wear their hats to benefit Wood County Society in honor of Developmental Disability Awareness Month. (Photo by Candice Black)
PARKERSBURG -- Hats of all different types were donned by students at Kanawha Elementary School on Thursday to raise money for Wood County Society in honor of Developmental Disability Awareness Month.
Although scheduled for today, some schools chose to participate in Hat Day on Thursday so the pre-kindergarten students could be involved.
Each student donated one dollar and showed off their favorite hat. Mineral Wells, Franklin, Neale, Blennerhassett and Emerson elementary schools also participated along with Jackson Middle School.
At Kanawha Elementary, speech pathologist and Wood County Society board member Marcia Mahoney facilitated the event.
"We do it every year and we raise money for a good cause," she said.
Kanawha is a smaller school with less than 300 students but Mahoney said they usually raise about $250.
"There's great participation. We have an amazing community, staff and students," she said.
Hat Day falls a few weeks before the yearly Wood County Society Telethon which will be March 28.
"We give hats off to all participating schools in support of our mission while having fun," the Wood County Society website said.
Kids always enjoy wearing their hats and Mahoney said some even take the time to create their own designs.
"They have such an amazing time. A lot of kids will really go out of their way to design a cool hat and it's kind of a family activity so they look forward to it," she said. "Every year they come up with some pretty creative hats. So far I've seen a few Easter themed hats which are really adorable. (There are) some really cute, unique hats so it's really fun."
Fifth grader Brie Winans sported a St. Patrick's Day themed hat and said she likes how crazy the hat is.
Fellow fifth grader Traeton Shannon crafted his hate with playing cards and dice.
"I just had some old cards laying around so I used them and some dice. My mom helped me a little bit with it, she helped me glue the stuff on but I mainly put all the stuff on," Shannon said.
Winans and Shannon said they had fun celebrating hat day and their friends enjoyed their unique hats.
Candice Black can be reached at cblack@newsandsentinel.com.