Just in time for the winter months, Lisa Camillone, the athletic trainer at Mercer Community College, recently donated more than 100 hand-knitted hats to the Needlework Guild of America. The group organizes and distributes collections of handmade and new items to a variety of New Jersey charities.
According to Camillone, her knitting project started out as a little stress relief in her spare time last February, but it gradually turned into a mission to spread the warmth this winter. She notes that the hats boast unique color combinations and range in size from infant to adult.
Camillone’s daughter, Andrea, a sophomore at MCCC, soon got drawn into her mom’s philanthropic activity, and began making hats of her own to add to the pile. The project got even bigger when Andrea, who works in the after-school program at Grover Middle School in West Windsor, asked students there if they might want to join in. She organized a group of enthusiastic sixth through eighth grade students to work toward adding 30 hats to the total.
The Grover students completed 21 hats since late October and are working to finish nine more by Christmas. According to the youngsters, the project is a nice break from doing homework, a fun new skill, and a great way to help other children. They proudly note that each hat is individually designed, including one sporting school colors and another in holiday red and green.
Grover students involved in the project include Aloki Pagidimarri, Kira Sung, Prat Sishodia, Dharma Proctor, Nisha Sukumar, Ruby Min, Emma Lilleywhite, Peter Torres, Rebecca Chan-Chao, and Charlie Dey.
“When I started out, I reached out to fellow employees at Mercer, who donated skeins of yarn left over from some of their projects,” says Camillone. “Andrea also found generous donors when she publicized the project at the middle school — including one teacher who gave us what we needed.”
Ginger Meredith, president of Needlework Guild of America’s Trenton branch, picked up the hats at the college. “I am thrilled and grateful,” she says. “The hats will be distributed through several charitable organizations.” In the past year NGA has donated to Anchor House, Angel’s Wings, Capital Health Foundation, Children’s Home Society, Children’s Futures Inc., Mill Hill Child and Family Develop Center, Morris Hall, Mount Carmel Guild, Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, and United Progress Inc.
Camillone plans to continue making hats for a long time to come — and continues to request donations of leftover yarn, which can be brought to the physical education office at Mercer College, 1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor.
“Extended Day Program students have participated in food drives and collections of hats and coats in the past but this is a first,” says Melissa Conklin, program administrator for WW-P Community Education. “We saw that this group really wanted to do this. It’s an activity where they get to learn something and do something for another child. We are so pleased that Andrea got us involved.”
