Volunteer program provides winter items for Head Start

The world of Head Start students and Retired and Senior Volunteer Program members overlapped Tuesday morning as volunteers helped pair each child with a hat and matching mittens for the Kalispell kids to stay warm this winter.

Classroom tables were covered in colorful hats and mittens as more than 200 students took turns sorting through knitted winter gear at the Northwest Montana Head Start center in Kalispell.

Leslie Potter, the volunteer coordinator for the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, said more than 20 senior volunteers made roughly 600 hats and mittens for people scattered across the Flathead Valley who could use some help in preparing for Montana’s cold months.

“We prepare for this year-round, with volunteer knitters, crocheters, quilters and sewers,” Potter said. “It takes a year to get everyone covered.”

Potter said the event has been a tradition for the program for nearly two decades as part of Winter Ready Montana. Winter Ready, a call to service by the Governor’s Office of Community Service, encourages Montanans to help neighbors and vulnerable populations get through the cold winter.

The senior program, part of the Agency on Aging, delivered more than 200 sets of winter gear to Head Start. The federal childhood education program provides health, nutrition and parent involvement services to low-income families.

Potter said the day also removes generational barriers for a few hours as the seniors and students interact.

“Seniors don’t want to stop contributing, and this day is an opportunity for volunteers to meet with children and see some of the impact,” she said. “Kids come to school sometimes unprepared, and now, because of volunteers, there will be resources to keep our children warm.”

Head Start wasn’t the only place to benefit from the winter wear made by the volunteers.

Potter said elementary schools in the Flathead Valley would receive matching hats and mittens as well. The gear is often stored at the schools in case a students arrive underdressed for cold weather, she said.

North Valley Hospital and Kalispell Regional Medical Center will receive an assortment of baby hats, booties and blankets for their birthing centers while several nursing homes will get blankets and afghans.

Other centers like The Abbie Shelter, Hope Pregnancy Resource Center and CASA for Kids of Flathead County will also receive handmade items.

For more information or to help make or donate winter gear, contact the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program at (406)758-5712.

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.