LEONARDTOWN, Maryland — The Leonardtown Volunteer Fire Department’s Auxiliary ‘loves to give,’ no matter what the season.
Members of the group dropped off a special holiday delivery of 345 handmade hats to residents of the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home on Tuesday. The knitted, crocheted, and fleece hats were crafted by the VFD Auxiliary members.
In addition to the hats, they donated 60 fidget sleeves. Fidget sleeves are designed for patients with cognitive issues. Beads, buttons, bells, and other embellishments on the sleeves keep patients occupied and stop them from picking at their skin.
This generous donation is nothing new. For years, they’ve been creating comfort items for the Maryland State Firemen’s Association Cancer Support Group. The items are available for any firefighter or member of their household living with cancer. The items are place in what’s called a ‘Bag of Hope.’
Among the hand-crafted item are:
- arm pillows
- chemo caps
- cup koozies
- eye masks
- heating pads
- headbands
- lapghans
- mastectomy pillows
- mittens
- neck pillows
- porta-cath pillows
- neck scarves
- slippers and a tote bag to put them in
In fact, this hardworking group created so many comfort items that it could be some time before they need to make more. “We given them so much that, thankfully, they don’t need them any more so we reached out to the community.”
The spokesperson for the group asked that TheBayNet not use her name. “It’s not about me. It’s about the people doing the work.”
The group decided to branch out and meet other needs in the community. In her words, “We love to give.”
Since the start of the pandemic, they’ve created over 3000 face masks to donate to hospitals, nursing homes, the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home, medical officers, funeral homes, senior apartments, fire departments, rescue squads, grocery store employees, and fast food workers.
She said it felt especially good to give back to veterans. “They have given so much to us, it’s nothing really that we did for them.”