Heron’s Key sewing group turns scraps into hats
July 1, 2024
One by one, about a dozen women filtered into the large meeting room at Heron’s Key retirement community, bringing scissors, material, sewing machines and patterns. For the next couple of hours, they snipped and sewed in a familiar effort to bring comfort to those most needing it. By the session’s end, these volunteers produced 30 fleece hats as a gift to GHP FISH Food Bank clients and a similar number for the Tacoma Rescue Mission. The effort is part of the mission of Heron’s Key residents’ volunteer committee, which has been making and quietly donating hats for three years – simply dropping them off at the FISH donations window, no thanks sought.
The group has also collected shoes for women set for release from the Washington Corrections Center for Women, staged a Christmas pageant, made bibs for residents at Heron’s Key’s Penrose Harbor assisted living and nursing facility, and staged drives for backpacks and food for community kids, notes Anne DeLaney, leader of the group. True to form, when this year’s one-day project was completed, the hats were left at the GHP FISH donation window.
Helping keep families snug is a recurring mission for these volunteers. DeLaney also belongs to a quilting group that puts fleece on the back of its quilts, often with pieces left over. “It was a shame to throw it away,” she says, and now that material, all donated, will find new life atop the heads of some lucky GHP FISH clients.
Ed. Note: Please help share our FISH Tales. If you’ve encountered a volunteer or supporter doing something above and beyond, or had an inspiring experience as or with a client, pass it on to our writing team: Sue John (suej@ghpfish.org), Chris Phillips (phillipscomm@comcast.net) or Steve Casey (stevenjcasey@me.com.) Thanks!
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Volunteers use patterns to cut out material for donated hats
Fleece cut to a pattern becomes an actual hat at the sewing machines.
Volunteer leader Anne DeLaney models just-completed hat for FISH.
Closeup of resident Jane Harder creating a hat.
