ZELIENOPLE — Six years ago, Connoquenessing Valley Elementary School started a trend in raising awareness for breast and other cancers.

Today, Principal DeeAnn Graham says she is still amazed by her faculty’s generosity.

The idea for “thinking pink” started for an ill student. The staff combined the idea of wearing pink for her with the month of October’s breast cancer awareness efforts. Graham said “it just kept growing from there.”

Graham said the school faculty wanted their student to know that they supported her and, after her parents’ approval, they wanted to let it be known that they were fighting against all types of cancer as well. The next year, they decided to continue.

“We saw a need to raise awareness for cancer research, just in general,” she said.

Graham said they chose to donate to American Cancer Society because they wanted to take a general approach against cancer, even though the timeliness of “thinking pink” was heavily tied to breast cancer research.

“Everybody wears pink,” Graham said, “and they give donations and get pink treats to take home.”

She said a pink bag is placed by the sign-in sheet, and people can anonymously put in “whatever you feel you can.”

Graham said her staff usually manages to raise somewhere between $300 and $400.

“We can raise quite a bit of money,” she said. “Our staff is a very caring group of people.”

Graham said that the CVE faculty wore green last week to raise money for a child who was injured in a football game to continue going to rehab.

“We raised almost $400,” she said. “When our faculty puts their mind behind supporting the cause, they are really dedicated.”

This year’s “thinking pink” day will be Oct. 12, in coordination with the high school’s “pink night” football game.

The funds raised will be donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in honor of Nicole Morris, the sister of third-grade teacher Andrea DeFabbo at CVE.

DeFabbo said Morris was an educator and education administrator for years, and she focused on at-risk children and those with special needs.

“The message behind Nicole being chosen was how she handled the cancer and how she has been in education for such a long time,” DeFabbo said. “She was silent hero and advocate for others in her community.”

DeFabbo said her sister was heavily involved in her students’ lives and even provided home-cooked Thanksgiving dinners and bought clothing for those who would have gone without otherwise.

“She was the person who would check in on other people, even when she was sick,” DeFabbo said. “When she went into hospice, 19 people a day came in to see her. I think that’s what the message is: What story do you want to tell?”

Morris died of cervical cancer Aug. 31 at age 47.

DeFabbo said she is a private person, but when Graham asked her to share her sister’s story and to make her the face of this year’s “thinking pink” event, she thought it was fitting for her sister who cared for so many others to help children one more time.

Graham said that they tried to involve the students in wearing pink in the past, but the staff learned that it worked better for them to see the adults working for this cause.

“We want to have teachable moments for children,” Graham said. “With 80-plus adults in the building, they see pink and can have the conversations about it.”

She said the school shares their initiative with parents, too, so they know when the school is doing this.

“Everybody has some personal experience, so it’s grown from there,” Graham said.