Rae Staton
Campus counselor
The newly bald baseball team will be able to keep their heads warm during the remaining
cold weather thanks to handmade, crocheted hats.
With the considerable help of a dozen volunteers and several donors, campus counselor
Rae Staton had more than 80 Bluffton-themed hats to give to those who had their heads
shaved last Thursday to combat cancer.
"I was thinking, 'My gosh, it's so cold out there!'" she said.
The Bluffton baseball team raised money this year for the Vs. Cancer Foundation, a
charity that helps fund children's cancer hospitals and national cancer research.
"I think it's an amazing thing for them to do," Rae said.
She drew inspiration for the hat idea during Christmas break, when she picked up crocheting.
After successfully crafting a hat for her son, she wrote out the pattern and sent
word seeking volunteers to contribute to the project.
But she doesn't care to be recognized for her efforts; without her generous volunteers
to help craft the hats and many donors to buy yarn, Rae said, the project wouldn't
have been possible. "One lady made 48 hats!" she added.
"This has nothing to do with me," she stressed. "This is just something I wanted to
do for them."
Still, like many others, she is no stranger to the destructive effects of cancer.
"It hits home for me," she said, having lost her mother to the disease.
Rae was a crisis counselor for the baseball team in 2007 after the March 2 bus accident
claimed seven lives and injured many others.
"I have a soft spot for the baseball team," she said. "It's quite a sacrifice for
those young men to do this."
I was thinking, 'My gosh, it's so cold out there!'"