Valley Medical Center’s scarf project started small. Give a scarf a week to a breast-cancer survivor during October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Then the scarves started coming in. Enough for a scarf an October day to a survivor. Now enough for a scarf to every breast cancer survivor who comes into Valley Medical Center during October. And then some.

“So it went from this little seed of an idea to this great big project,” says Rose Guerrero, Cancer Services director.

Breast Center technologist Christy Snavely came up with the scarf idea.

“It started with one technologist who said, ‘Wouldn’t it be lovely if we give one scarf

to a patient a week?’” Guerrero says.

Valley Breast Center now has about 250 scarves.

All have a touch of pink, but no two are alike. Some are mostly purple, some green, some brown. Some lightweight, some heavy, like the “grandma shawls” made by a man who moved here from Alaska.

“We have short ones, wide ones, fuzzy ones, crocheted, knitted, fleece…” Guerrero says.

The scarves came (and continue to come) from Valley Medical employees, friends of employees and groups like the Soroptimist International of Renton chapter. And from people who saw Valley Medical’s announcement in area knitting shops. Valley Medical employees even taught people to knit.

“It just went wild,” Guerrero says. “What we’re finding is people do want to give, they just don’t know how or what. When you put something out there all of a sudden it’s an opportunity.”

Each scarf comes with a story. One woman donated a scarf made by her mother, who died from breast cancer.

“People said, ‘With every pearl I did on this, I’m remembering someone in my family who died of breast cancer,’” Guerrero recounts.

The farthest-traveling scarf is from New Hampshire, the home of a sister of a Valley Medical nurse.

Wednesday was the first day of scarf-giving.

“Some of the patients cried,” Guerrero says. “They were very touched.”

Valley Medical Center has given gifts to cancer patients before, but never handmade scarves.

The hard part is convincing people the scarves — shown in display cases — are not for sale.

“We had people begging to buy the scarves,” Guerrero says. “We had to put a note in the window saying they aren’t for sale.”

Leftover scarves may be sold to benefit American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

And at this rate, there will be leftovers.

“We have them displayed in three various windows of the hospital, and we’re getting more donations every day,” Guerrero says.

Scarf collection

Valley Medical Center is still collecting scarves and yarn for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. To donate, call Rose Guerrero at 425-656-4297.