Last week, I had the privilege of meeting with one of our donors who may well be one of the longest, continuously active contributors to the Santa Claus Fund. Her name is Diane Moody of Topsham. When she was 17 years old, she began helping her mother and aunt knit mittens for children’s charities. In 1977, Diane began knitting hats and mittens for the Santa Claus Fund. Averaging between 150 and 200 sets of hats and mittens, she figures she has knitted over 9700 sets! That’s a lot of yarn helping the children in our community stay warm.

This year marks 39 years of service to the Santa Claus Fund. Almost every day after returning home from a full day of work at the hospital, Diane will spend her evenings and weekends knitting for her personal Santa Fund project. Her family says, “if Grammy’s sitting, she’s knitting!” It takes about 6 hours to complete one set of mittens and matching hat and uses more than a skein of yarn to do so. She buys about 200 skeins of 7 ounce Red Heart yarn each year. Already working on next year’s donation, Diane plans to continue knitting for the program until she can no longer afford to buy the yarn, which even though she shops sales and coupons, the cost goes higher every year. The Santa Claus Fund will accept gift cards to Jo-Ann Fabrics or dedicated money to help her buy yarn for next year. It was a pleasure meeting and talking with such a kind woman. Diane Moody is a community treasure and the Santa Claus Fund is humbled by her dedication and commitment.

Donations and applications can be mailed to The Santa Claus Fund, Inc. P O Box 278 Brunswick, ME 04011 or dropped off at the Elks Club in Bath or Brunswick. As a 501(c)3 organization, donations may be tax deductible as allowed by law.