OREM, Utah — For Charlotte Dodge, service is an addiction — along with chocolate.
"It's fun and you can never get enough," she said. For the past five to six years she has spearheaded a group of sisters from the Lakeview 5th and 6th wards in the Orem Utah Lakeview Stake who gather twice a month in someone's home to work on projects of goodwill.
Sometimes it's knitting hats, other times it's tying quilts, or making nightgowns for newborns in India. Something is always being made.
"We don't have a plan for the year," she said. "After we finish one project, something else comes along."
They are friends who enjoy the sisterhood of getting together, Sister Dodge said. They call themselves the Looney Loomers, believing that humor and a laugh are universal.
But they come for more than the fellowship. About two dozen in number, they come for the chance to do good, taking as their creed a quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley, who said, "Empathy enhances . . . capacity to serve."
One day in mid-April, the Looney Loomers met at a small warehouse near Utah Lake where 107 quilts were packed for the Church Humanitarian Center for shipment to Chile. Responding to a request from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland to the Church Humanitarian Center for 6,000 quilts, they set out to help with 100 in six weeks.
A bit ambitious, some felt, but with the assistance of Winifred Eads and her donation of time, patience, expertise and four long-arm quilting machines from her personal business, they exceeded their goal by seven. "We feel blessed to know Sister Eads and feel of her giving and sharing spirit," Sister Dodge said.
"There are so many things we do each day that don't matter. It feels good to choose to make a difference to people who really need us," said Sister Dodge.
In recent years the Looney Loomers have loomed more than 9,000 winter hats for local charities, such as Primary's Children Medical Center and the Missionary Training Center in Provo, as well as the Church Humanitarian Center and for Ukrainian orphanages.
They now plan to cut, sand and paint wooden blocks which will be made into toy cars for children around the world.
"It has been fun to learn new skills and socialize with the other looms for a common good cause," said Loraine Brown of the group.
E-mail to: shaun@desnews.com
