Last week, Katelyn and Molly McGrail decorated a box, wrapping it in pink paper and writing on it in colorful letters: Project Sweaters.

The Wayne Elementary School students' goal was to collect 100 sweaters and distribute them this winter to those unable to afford to heat their homes.

In the week-and-a-half since Katelyn, 8, and Molly, 6, placed the collection box inside their school, the girls -- with the help of their grandmother, Debbie Sherman, of Winthrop -- have collected and washed 35 sweaters.

The garments are blue, red, pink, brown and gray. They fit children, men and women.

"Not everyone can pay for oil because it's gone up a lot, and the price of food," said Katelyn, a third-grade student at Wayne Elementary School.

The project has generated excitement among Wayne students, Katelyn said, simplifying the collection process.

"It's been pretty easy so far," she said. "Everyone has been excited. Everybody checks in the box each day to see how many sweaters."

"They always talk about it," Molly, in first grade, said of her classmates.

The project is generating excitement outside Wayne Elementary School's doors, too, Sherman said.

On Monday, Sherman and her granddaughters will speak to those attending a fuel assistance meeting in Winthrop. They are hoping other communities start similar collections, Sherman said.

Once the collection is done, Sherman said, the plan is to give the sweaters to law enforcement officials and oil dealers. They are the ones most likely to spot someone in need this winter, she said.

Katelyn and Molly will attach a poem to each sweater.

"A project of caring, this sweater for sharing. And hope you stay warm all year," the poem reads.

Sherman said she and her granddaughters undertake a different charitable initiative each year. In 2005, Katelyn and Molly cut out hearts from two yards of red fleece and sent them to children affected by Hurricane Katrina.

"It's to teach the kids to care about others," Sherman said of the annual undertakings.

Staff Writer Betty Adams contributed to this report.

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, Ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com