West Hills : These Hatters Really Love Repeat Customers

For a Kids Kaps With Love volunteer, a comment such as, “I liked your hats better last year,” goes over well.

“The fact that he was back to complain was great,” said Marge Wollman of Encino. “It meant he was still alive.”

But for the most part, volunteers like Wollman see faces of gratitude from children who have lost their hair in the fight against cancer or AIDS. Every Thursday morning, the Kids Kaps With Love group of as many as 60 volunteers--ranging from 7 to 75 years old--meets at the West Valley Jewish Community Center to decorate hats.

With glue guns, the volunteers affix such items as toys, baseball cards, seashells and bunny ears to the hats. Last week, the group made Easter hats for patients at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

“The hard part for me is seeing their parents,” said Helen Salkin, a vice president of the group. “You can see the sadness in their faces.”

But the volunteers say the happiness they see in the children’s faces makes the effort worthwhile. “I think for a short time they forget they’re sick,” said Pearl Greenberg of Woodland Hills.

The group, which started four years ago, supplies hats to the Ronald McDonald Foundation, UCLA Medical Center, City of Hope, and children’s hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange County, as well as organizations that provide support and care for sick children.

Some volunteers knit caps of special nonirritating material for children with sensitive skin. But many of the hats are baseball caps. Some children--especially older boys--prefer just plain caps, volunteers said. But for the rest, volunteers enjoy decorating the caps in imaginative and whimsical ways.

“We have a lot of fun because we come out with crazy and beautiful things,” volunteer Trudy Perry of Woodland Hills said.

The group could use more volunteers, as well as donations of materials and money. For information, call Salkin at (818) 774-1109.