NORTHFIELD — As hot weather lingers over the region, a small group at the Northfield Senior Center is helping families in need prepare for the cold weather soon to be on the horizon.
Five seniors at the Northfield Senior Center have been hard at work with their needles over the past month, knitting more than two dozen hats to donate to the Warm the Children fundraiser.
“In my mind, if you have a gift, it’s your responsibility to use that to help others,” said Betty Whitcomb, who has helped bring together other knitters in the community for this project. “It’s a project to give back. We’ve got the skills, we may as well use them.”
Warm the Children, which is overseen by the Greenfield Recorder, has provided warm clothing for families in need across Franklin County and the North Quabbin region for more than three decades. The fundraiser has grown to provide new coats and clothes to about 900 children each year.
Whitcomb rallied four other knitters to join her in making hats in a wide variety of colors and patterns while gathered around a table at the Senior Center, socializing and sharing knitting strategies. The group meets every other Thursday from 1 to 2 p.m. This week, Whitcomb was joined by Joy Sprott and Debby Wiesen Kelly, while usual attendees Cindy Dickerman and Gail Bedard knitted from home.
“This is a very worthwhile project and program,” said Wiesen Kelly, who worked with nonprofits before she retired. “This is a way for me to still give back to a nonprofit in a different way.”
For Sprott, knitting hats for Warm the Children is a chance to use her passion for knitting to help people in need.
“I’ve made afghans for all my nieces, nephews and grandchildren,” she said. “At this point, this was a chance to do something for others.”
Whitcomb suggested the idea of having biweekly knitting time at the Senior Center when it emerged from its COVID-19-induced closure as a way to invite people to socialize while knitting items for family members. She said the idea to donate to Warm the Children came to her one day and she was happy to implement that as part of the program, especially since she had previous experience with the charity when she taught at Pioneer Valley Regional School and ran a donation drive with her students.
At their table Thursday afternoon, the group had more than two dozen hats laid out and the three knitters were in the process of making more. The time needed to make a hat varies for each of them; Whitcomb, who is into her sixth decade of knitting, said it usually takes her one evening to make a winter hat, which she does while she watches the Boston Red Sox. Sprott said it takes a similar amount of time, while Wiesen Kelly only recently got into knitting — with the help of Whitcomb — six months ago.
“I’m Betty’s protege,” Wiesen Kelly joked. “She’s a marvelous teacher and taught me everything I need to know to knit.”
Northfield Senior Center Director Colleen Letourneau said the group of women has been doing great work, using their passion to help others.
“They’re volunteers at heart,” Letourneau said. “It’s good for them to bring meaning to what they’re doing.”
Anyone who would like to send a tax-deductible donation for Warm the Children may address them to The Greenfield Recorder: Warm the Children at P.O. Box 1367, 14 Hope St., Greenfield MA, 01302.
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.