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Hats off to the troops: Mesquite seniors knit caps for soldiers overseas
By Kim Nguyen, Staff Writer
“You know what they say: Busy hands are happy hands,” said Gloria Burchfield.
If that’s the case, the hands of the senior women at the Evans Senior Center are on Cloud 9.
For nearly two years, the senior women at the center have been making knit caps to send overseas to American soldiers.
Burchfield, 63, had not crocheted in more than 30 years, but once the hooks and yarn were in her hands, the craft came back instantly.
The crocheting project is Burchfield’s way to honor American servicemen and servicewomen. Burchfield’s husband is a retired Navy officer and her grandson is currently serving abroad with the Navy.
“They’re out there putting their lives on the line, it’s the least we can do to support them,” she said. “I’m just very pleased to support them this way.”
The project started when Jimmie McKee knitted a few caps for her nephew and his regiment when they were deployed to Iraq.
“The next thing you know, other soldiers were asking my nephew where he had got his cap and were asking him to ask me to knit one for them too,” McKee said.
McKee, 83, knits the caps in her spare time as she watches daytime television. The caps, similar to beanies or skullcaps in style, are fairly simple to make and McKee will complete one cap in about an hour. She aims to make about 100 caps each month.
“From what I understand, they are not allowed to wear them while on duty but will wear them off-duty,” McKee said. “We’ve been told that some of the soldiers will wear their caps all day.”
After telling some of her friends at the Evans Senior Center about her endeavor, McKee recruited some them to help knit the caps.
Mildred West had quit crocheting for about five years before recently picking up her crocheting hooks again for an independent project.
“I started to make a scarf for myself and realized that I didn’t want or need a scarf,” West said. “Later, I went to the senior center where I ran into Jimmie and she told me about her project. And I knew I had to do it too.”
West was eager to help McKee with the knitted and crochet caps project. The military holds a special place in West’s heart -- her husband and five of her seven brothers served in various branches of the U.S. Armed Forces.
“I would have been very appreciative if someone did something like this for [my husband and brothers],” 82-year-old West said. “That’s my motivation to help.”
West has been crocheting caps for about 10 days and already has a dozen caps completed.
“It’s a very simple thing to do,” West said. “I’d be sitting and watching television and next thing you know, I’ve got a stack of them next to me.”
McKee said the group of five or six volunteers at the center will knit and/or crochet between 250-300 caps every month. At the end of each month, the caps are sent to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to be distributed to soldiers leaving for their tours of duty in the Middle East.
“The soldiers are always very appreciative of our caps,” McKee said. “The volunteers who see the soldiers off will receive hugs and kisses from [the soldiers]. The soldiers will treat the volunteers as if it were their own Granny seeing them off.”
McKee, West and Burchfield said they don’t have plans to quit knitting and crocheting caps anytime soon.
“I’ll be crocheting these caps as long as the Lord will let me and we have our men and women overseas,” West said.
But the determining factor to their project is the incoming supply of donations of money and yarn. The women, who have limited income, will purchase skeins of yarn for about $2 at a local craft or discount store to make the caps.
“A ball of yarn will make about two and one-half caps,” McKee said. “And it roughly equates to $1 per cap.”
West said in addition to yarn, the senior women also purchase plastic storage bags to hold the caps and candies, such as Tootsie Rolls and Pops, to send off with the soldiers each month.
The staff at Evans Senior Center will accept donations of money and/or yarn on behalf of the group of senior women crocheting and knitting caps for overseas troops. The ideal yarn for the project is 4-ply worsted weight yarn in camouflage print and is available at any craft or discount store.
“We’ve been very fortunate in receiving donations of yarn and money lately,” West said. “I hear the soldiers are very appreciative.”
The pattern the women are using is also available at the Evans Senior Center upon request to the staff.
“It’s a very easy pattern and can be altered to ‘stretchy’ preferences,” West said. “Anyone could do it if they wanted to learn.”
Evans Senior Center is located at 1116 Hillcrest Street in Mesquite and is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Contact Kim Nguyen at knguyen@acnpapers.com
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
Jennifer Day wrote on Feb 22, 2009 11:21 PM:
" Jimmie McKee is my Mom, and I'm so proud of her for doing this. I love you Mom!! "
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