Carson Wills
Albuquerque, New Mexico
As the Founder and Director of Project Snuggliheads, Wills has donated over 350 hats and 300 blankets to pediatric cancer patients throughout New Mexico in the last seven years.
Wills started Snuggliheads when she was eleven, after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. “It was really hard for me to watch her fight through chemotherapy and radiation treatment,” says Wills, “especially since it was winter and chemotherapy not only makes you lose all of your hair but also makes you feel colder than it actually is.” Wills wanted to find a way to help other people who were struggling through the same thing, so she founded Snuggliheads, which makes colorful polar fleece hats and blankets and donates them to the University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH).
The first year Wills and her mother paid for all of the fabric and sewed all the hats themselves, but over the years the project has grown. During her senior year in high school, 50 students and teachers helped create over 100 hats and blankets, and her school donated $500 to fund the project. “Every year I get letters from the hospital telling me how much the kids love the warm hats and blankets, and how it really helps ease their transition to the hospital,” she says. “Having a blanket to hold onto not only helps keep them warm, but helps them feel safe and secure during a very scary time in their lives.”
Wills, who won a statewide Making a Difference Award for Snuggliheads, has also volunteered in a pediatric special care unit at the UNM Hospital. “Working with these children really made me thankful for all of the opportunities I have been given in life,” she says, “and made me realize that what I want to do in life is help others.” Wills hopes to bring Snuggliheads to Haverford next semester and plans on becoming a pediatric oncologist.