Valley Medical Center’s scarf project started small: Give a scarf a week to a breast-cancer survivor during October, which is 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 goes to Valley Medical during October. And then some.

“So it went from this little seed of an idea to this great big project,” said Rose Guerrero, cancer services director.

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.

The scarves come from Valley Medical employees, their friends, community groups and people who saw Valley Medical’s announcement in area knitting shops. Hospital employees even taught people to knit.

“It just went wild,” Guerrero said. “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.

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

Some patients who’ve received scarves cried, Guerrero said. “They were very touched.”

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

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 windows of the hospital, and we’re getting more donations every day,” Guerrero says.