BANGOR (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- Maine winters are not forgiving.
No one knows this better than Veazie resident Louise Cunningham, who doesn't like to see people go without hats and mittens when old man Winter comes.
She knows it's only going to get colder from here, so she's mobilized volunteers from all over the world to knit and crochet winter accessories to donate to Bangor area homeless shelters year after year.
"I can make a few hats, couple pairs of mittens, and help out, and then I thought, 'well, jeez, I must have a couple of friends that could do that,'" said Cunningham.
Out of that one idea, 'Hats for the Homeless' was born.
"I got a few friends together and said, 'let's do this,'" remembered Cunningham.
The program, now in its fifth year, continues to grow.
"I thought maybe we had maxed out on the amount of people that would want to help but I get at least 20 or 30 more every year," said Cunningham. "People that reach out and say, 'oh, I heard about your project.' 'Oh, I found the website.' 'I found the Facebook page.' 'Can I send some items?' So it seems to be continually growing every year."
This group collects and donates more than just hats, though.
Scarves, mittens, socks...
"It started as something small and its grown every year," added Cunningham. "We have things that come from literally just about anywhere in the world. Japan, Thailand, England, [and] New Zealand," to name a few.
Cunningham has been knitting for fifteen years.
She personally knits 20 to 30 hats, gloves, and scarves, for the homeless each year.
In addition to collecting and sorting donations from her home, Cunningham says knitting gives her something to do in the winter.
"They mail all the items to me," detailed Cunningham. "I keep them at my house until it's time to bring them [to the police department] and then we sort, put them together, and then we deliver them to the agencies in the area that are in need of the items."
"It's a partnership," said Bangor Police Department Sgt. Wade Betters.
Bangor police help Cunningham make the deliveries each year, just the like the one Friday morning going to the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, and the department keeps a box in one of their cruisers throughout the winter to hand out as the chilly months get cooler.
"This time of year socks, socks are a huge need," said Bangor Area Homeless Shelter Executive Director, Boyd Kronholm. "So any socks in [the box,] they go out of here pretty quickly."
Kronholm says the need this year is greater than in years past.
"Our shelter has been full for most of the year and we have people trying to get in so it's a bigger challenge trying to keep people warm this year," said Kronholm. "We're going to go through probably a lot more hats and mittens then we probably have in the past couple of years."
Kronholm says the cold weather gear will be handed out to shelter guests, as well as people who are unsheltered, to support their mission of keeping everyone warm through the winter.
"I remember last year, just happened to stand out that we went across the street to the homeless shelter and we weren't even out the door and people were elbow-deep in the box just wanting the hats, the mittens and scarves and it was a cold day that day and it really touched my heart to see that the need is there and that we were able to help, to help them at that time," said Cunningham.
According to Cunningham, more than 1,200 handmade hats, mittens, scarves, and socks are being delivered to area homeless shelters Friday.
"We serve our community but our community actually helps us by doing [this,]" said Kronholm.