DIXIE POTTER IS knitting hats for Native American children and she’s currently on her third batch of 104 hats. Potter began partnering with Pacific NW Outreach (PNWO) earlier this year and her first box of hats was delivered to the Gresham, OR-based organization on September 2. Photo courtesy of Viki Eierdam.
MALLARD LANDING ASSISTED LIVING resident Dixie Potter spends up to 12 hours a day knitting for others. Photo courtesy of Viki Eierdam.
PHYSICALLY-CHALLENGED WITH diabetes, Graves disease and thyroid problems, Dixie Potter could be sitting idly by with feelings of bitterness. Instead, she chooses to make a difference in the lives of children she’ll probably never meet. Photo courtesy of Viki Eierdam.
Inside the walls of retirement facilities around the world live hearts of gold and collective centuries of wisdom. Mallard Landing Assisted Living in Battle Ground is no exception and resident Dixie Potter is a prime example.
Physically-challenged with diabetes, Graves disease and thyroid problems, Potter could be sitting idly by with feelings of bitterness. Instead, she chooses to make a difference in the lives of children she’ll probably never meet.
“She’s so sick she can’t walk and she’s in there doing stuff for other people,” said Helen Selee, another Mallard Landing resident.
The stuff she’s doing is knitting hats for Native American children and she’s currently on her third batch of 104 hats. Potter began partnering with Pacific NW Outreach (PNWO) earlier this year and her first box of hats was delivered to the Gresham, OR-based organization on Sept. 2.
Potter’s long-time friend, Sandy Higgins, was an auditor in Oregon and assigned to routinely audit PNWO (formerly Frontier Missions) for several years. After retiring, Higgins toured their facility, saw some knitted hats in the midst of donated items and volunteered her good friend, Potter, to make 100 hats, unbeknownst to Potter.
Willing to accept the challenge, Potter had no means to purchase the yarn required.
“I didn’t have enough yarn. I said ‘If the good Lord wills it ...,” Potter said.
A few days later, the activities director of Mallard Landing was helping to clean out a room previously used for storage space to make way for an office. She knocked on Potter’s door and asked if Potter would make use of 73 brand new skeins of yarn that had been found stuffed away in boxes.
The hat-making project is a community effort. Many residents help ball yarn from donations. Higgins picks up the orders from Potter and delivers them to Gresham. As long as donations for yarn continue to come through the doors of Mallard Landing, Potter will continue her knitting crusade. She’s eagerly taught several other residents how to use a loom to make the hats and they’ve, in turn, gone on to help other charitable organizations, such as a no-kill animal shelter and an orphanage in Romania.
They call themselves the ‘looney loomers’ and they gather in a bright, wide corridor on her wing of Mallard Landing. Outfitted with comfortable chairs and couches, the residents affectionately refer to this space as their porch.
“There’s a whole lot more things us older people can do than sit around and play Bingo,’’ Potter said. “I feel privileged to do it.”
This isn’t Potter’s first charitable knitting experience. Five years ago she was introduced to an organization through her sister-in-law who worked for DSHS in San Diego. The organization was concentrating on drug-addicted young girls, many of them pregnant, trying to integrate them back into school. Potter realized these girls didn’t want to wear older lady clothes, which was the bulk of the clothing donations being brought in. Taking ideas from trendy newspaper advertisements such as Kohl’s, she knitted and donated 103 sweaters. After three shipments of 103 sweaters each, she could no longer afford the cost of the yarn, coupled with the price of shipping.
The experience of having to bow out of the San Diego project due to lack of funds was disheartening for Potter, but her partnership with PNWO has renewed her feelings of viability. Each hat takes 12 hours to knit. She sets goals for herself and draws from her own memories of being a child to motivate her every day.
“I spend about 12 hours a day,’’ Potter said. “That’s my goal. I could just see them (the children) running around with their tongues out catching the snow. You know how little kids are. The only thing I want is ... let’s keep kindness going.”
Mallard Landing Assisted Living is located at 813 SE Clark Ave., Battle Ground. To donate yarn, contact Tracy Shanks, activities director, at (360) 687-0123.
