CHRISSY OHLINGER / Special to the PV TSue Palumbo, Joan Crim and Barb Johnston sort craft supplies for "Helping Hands." The stockings were hung by the chimney with care ... in February. Advertisement

Barb Johnston is planning on making a difference this year for seniors and shut-ins, by making stockings and hat and scarf sets to give away for Christmas. Her project, informally called "Helping Hands," is well under way with big plans for this December.

About 20 ladies come together to help out with the project. They meet in Barb Johnston's converted garage which is dedicated almost entirely to the craft group, and work on different crafts projects. Barb Johnston is also the founder for the national group "Quilts for Cancer," so she has experience organizing charitable groups.

In 1999 the Johnston family moved to Pahrump and started a new local chapter of the "Quilts for Cancer" charity. It is a cause that has particularly affected the Johnston family.

But through friends and relatives in the elderly community, Johnston became aware of the seniors and shut-ins who have no family living locally who can visit them.

"When I found out that many of our neighbors only have the "Meals on Wheels" volunteers for company during the holidays, I knew that we needed to take care of our seniors," said Johnston.

Last year the ladies made 50 stockings for the seniors but saw that they needed many, many more. This year the ladies of "Helping Hands" estimate they will need to make 200 stockings and stuff them to give away in December.

All those stockings take a lot of time and planning, so the project is well under way already with only 10 months left to finish.

Stockings will be stuffed with fresh fruit, individual healthy snack packs and crafts from various groups like Girl and Boy Scouts. But for now the group is just concentrating on making the actual stockings.

It is accepting donations for materials, but the group needs volunteers with time to donate. Only simple skills are necessary: sewing, crochet, knitting and various crafts. The idea is to make a nice gift, but also to make as many as possible.

To donate time or materials, please call Johnston at 751-5356 or Sue Palumbo at 727-5092.

"HelpingHands" gives the gifts to the center or organization to be distributed, so they do not know who will receive what stocking. The gifts will be distributed by the employees at the Pahrump Senior Center for homebound seniors and at EverGreen Nursing Home and Hospice.