Giving that warms the heart—and the hands

It is mitten time again.

Local telecommunications company Connections, Etc. is accepting donations of purchased or handmade mittens, gloves, hats and scarves for their Mitten Tree program.

Donations must be new, and can be dropped at the Connections, Etc. retail store at 440 Eagle Lake Road in Big Lake. Retail store hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.

Now in its 11th year, the Mitten Tree program has to date collected 2,713 items for distribution to needy children through the Big Lake, Becker and Zimmerman schools and through CAER in Elk River.

"I'd be walking down the street in winter and see a mother and children without mittens on their hands," remembers Beverly Hartford, a Connections, Etc. customer service representative and the founder of the Mitten Tree program. "And sometimes when it's not your need, you don't notice. You don't see that someone else is going without hats and gloves in the middle of winter."

But Hartford did notice, and asked her supervisors at Connections, Etc. to sponsor the Mitten Tree program. That was back in 1997, and that year the program collected 165 items. Since then, the program has grown to over 300 donated items each year.

"As the program has grown, so has our Mitten Tree," says Hartford. "We used to have a four-foot tree in the lobby. Now we've expanded to a seven-foot tree and brought out an additional table for donations." Donations that have become a ritual for many citizens and local organizations.

"We have a 92-year-old woman in Big Lake who knits mittens every season. Some daycare centers, that's their giving thing for the year. You see all these daycare kids troop in with their donations to hang on the tree," says Hartford.

Though donations can be mailed, Hartford encourages donors to come to the retail store to see the Mitten Tree, the boughs garlanded with a colorful array of winter items, and with the generosity of the human spirit.

Donations are being accepted now through Dec. 31. For further information on the Mitten Tree program or for directions, contact Connections, Etc. at (763) 262-4128.

Journalist

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