KOE hosted hat day on Sept. 9 at FHN to raise money for the Children’s Cancer Center at St. Jude’s Hospital. Students could donate $1 and wear a hat for the school day. The total amount of money collected was $233, an improvement compared to their usual $150-200.

“I think hat day is a good way to raise money because it gives kids the chance to wear hats that they normally can’t because of school policy,” KOE Member Kelli Roeslein said.

This is the first time KOE has donated their money to St. Jude Hospital, however they plan on doing it again in the future. Donations help pay for everything a patient may need such as housing, food and treatment.

“We had an officer two years ago who had cancer and St. Jude helped her a lot, and we promised her we would start this for her,” KOE Sponsor Diane Holmes said.

KOE picked to donate to St. Jude for multiple reasons. St. Jude believes that families should never receive a bill from them for things like treatment, housing and food because the only thing they should worry about is helping their child live. It costs around $2 million a day to operate St. Jude, and treatments usually aren’t very cheap.

“I think they chose St. Jude’s because it’s such an awesome hospital who cares about their patients,” Roeslein said.