COEUR d'ALENE - Students at Borah Elementary School received some new threads Friday, courtesy of the Panhandle Happy Hatters.

"They're very receptive, the little ones," said Happy Hatters coordinator Marie Landstrom of Coeur d'Alene. "One little boy said, 'We can take this home?'"

The charitable knitting and crocheting organization, now in its eighth year, made and distributed 361 hats to ensure each Borah student will have a warm and covered head to guard against the cold North Idaho winter.

Landstrom said the Happy Hatters contacted Coeur d'Alene School District Superintendent Matt Handelman to see where the need is greatest and the Hatters will be concentrating on those Coeur d'Alene schools as it creates hats and gloves to keep youngsters a bit warmer as temperatures plummet. She said Borah will be receiving gloves soon.

"There are so many needs in Coeur d'Alene people don't even realize," Landstrom said. "We give to so many organizations and we try to find the ones that are the neediest that we donate to."

The Hatters comprises more than 30 members, and Landstrom said many of them widows or living alone. They donate baby blankets and booties to the birthing center at Deaconess Hospital in Spokane as well as blankets and other warm, hand-knitted items to Hospice, veterans organizations, schools and more.

And each piece is made with love.

"It's just a very satisfying thing to do," Landstrom said. "It's very rewarding to help someone who doesn't have as much as you do. That's why we do it, to put a little joy in their lives."

The Panhandle Happy Hatters meet the third Tuesday of every month.

Info: 762-9623