Pair crochet 160 winter hats
NEW KENSINGTON: The Salvation Army will distribute 160 handmade winter hats to local families today that were crocheted by two members of Logans Ferry United Presbyterian Church.
This is a annual tradition for Lois Hart, 60, and Gladys Bordonaro, 73, who surpassed their goal to crochet 100 hats with the help of donated yarn and money from the church.
"We've been doing this four or five years, at least," Hart said.
"We've always made at least 100 hats, but this year was the most we ever made," said Bordonaro, an administrative assistant for Wilfred Burgart and Associates, CPA. "We had more time to make them this year."
According to Salvation Army corps officer Gayle Senak, the hats will be on display today for parents to select for their children.
"There will be close to 300 families coming through," Senak said.
"If there's anything left over, we give them out in the free clothing room in January," Senak said. "There's nothing left over between Christmas and January.
"We get all kinds of clubs from Rotary to Kiwanis to church groups who want to help," Senak said. "It's overwhelming — the support we receive to help people at Christmas. They provide for kids who they will never meet. It is the real spirit of Christmas for them to help people they will never meet. To me, that's absolutely amazing."
"Gladys and I knew there was a need; we don't do this for recognition," Hart said. "Whatever we can do to help."
Hart said she has limited use of her left arm because she broke it three years ago. It takes her about three hours to crochet one hat, she said. "We're not in this for the glory," Bordonaro said, who has worked for the Hope Center, domestic violence shelters, and has been a foster parent. "I've always been involved with people. I was raised in a large family, and my upbringing was to care about the other person."
For lifelong friends Hart and Bordonaro, the hats are a year-round project.
"We do this the whole year long from one holiday to the next," Hart said.
"We've already started on next year's," Bordonaro said. "I have about half a dozen done so far, and Lois had about eight when I talked to her."
They started donating their hats in 1990s through another program called Caps for Kids, based in Gibsonia, Hart said.
"Then Lois and I got to talking and asked ourselves, 'How about this area?'" Bordonaro said. Their goal has been to make 100 hats to give away within the community, she said.
According to Hart, Logans Ferry United Presbyterian Church helped make this a record-breaking year for them, especially when a member of the church, who did not want to be named, donated much of the yarn that enabled them to crochet so many items.
"I can't stress enough my thanks to all the people who helped us," Bordonaro said.
Hart and Bordonaro also made mittens and lap robes. The mittens and hats decorated the church's Christmas tree along with donated socks and scarfs.
"We had a lot of items put away until we gave everything to the Salvation Army because it wouldn't all fit on the tree," said Norma Hawk, who helped organize the project.
"People put part of themselves into these projects," Senak said. "It's a very personal thing. It's a pretty amazing thing how people give."
