Humana Charity Crafters donate quilts, afghans to veterans’ groups

The Humana Charity Crafters meet every Friday from 1-3:30 p.m. at the Henderson Humana location to knit, crochet and quilt hand-made items for charity. (Alex Meyer/View) @alxmey

Family members of the Humana Charity Crafters were also in attendance as the group's 220 items were stacked in the front of the room in green Humana bags. (Alex Meyer/View) @alxmey

Before the celebration began, members of the Humana Charity Crafters got to work on their next donation. It typically takes anywhere from a week to a month to crochet, knit or quilt one item. (Alex Meyer/View) @alxmey

"Each piece is not made by factory somewhere in Boston or across the world," said Humana sales and marketing director Dixon Keller. "It's made right here by loving hands." (Alex Meyer/View) @alxmey

The Humana Charity Crafters' donation includes 130 pieces to be given to the North Las Vegas VA Medical Center and 110 to be given to Fisher House. (Alex Meyer/View) @alxmey

"They're just real, genuine people," said Humana Charity Crafter Beverly Houseman. "We laugh, we talk, we have more fun doing it than the guys and gals who get this stuff. We get more out of it than they do." (Alex Meyer/View) @alxmey

North Las Vegas VA Medical Center Voluntary Services Chief Karen Cinnamon said she typically stores the red, white and blue blankets in a separate place at the hospital and brings them out to the patients for veteran and U.S. holidays. (Alex Meyer/View) @alxmey

Lillian DuPlessis (left) is the oldest Humana Charity Crafter at 91. Mary Munoz, 74, taught her many of the crocheting designs she now works with. (Alex Meyer/View) @alxmey

The Henderson Humana location, 1000 N. Green Valley Parkway, Suite 720 is one of two Human locations in the Las Vegas Valley. A second stands at 8885 W. Charleston Boulevard in Summerlin. (Alex Meyer/View) @alxmey

The Henderson Humana location, 1000 N. Green Valley Parkway, Suite 720 is one of two Human locations in the Las Vegas Valley. A second stands at 8885 W. Charleston Boulevard in Summerlin. (Alex Meyer/View) @alxmey

The Humana Charity Crafters, a group of primarily senior women who quilt, knit and crochet clothes and blankets for donation, gathered in Henderson on July 14 to make their biannual donation of handmade items.

Gathered at the Humana building, 1000 N. Green Valley Parkway, they gifted 220 quilts and afghans to Fisher House, and nonprofit that helps military families, and the VA Medical Center in North Las Vegas. Health-insurer Humana provided food and drinks while guest speakers thanked the women for their contribution.

While being formally congratulated for their efforts, the ladies quietly kept up work on their next donation.

“I used to come here every day,” said Mary Munoz, 74, one of the two founding quilters of the Humana Charity Crafters. “I do maybe two (quilts) every month because I have other things going on. But we joke, “OK, everyone who doesn’t have a husband, you can do more.’”

The knitting group formed in 2009, a year after the opening of the Henderson Humana building. The group began with two ladies crocheting in the lobby for fun and quickly evolved into more than 50 crafters between Humana’s two sites; another knitting group meets at the Summerlin location, 8885 W. Charleston Blvd.

“As they started working together in the lobby, I was thinking, ‘What are we going to do with these things?’” said Rhonda Mayland, Humana’s guidance center coordinator. “Then I remembered my mother who used to make lapghans for nursing homes.”

The Henderson knitting group meets from 1-3:30 p.m. on Fridays to knit with materials supplied by the Humana staff. After months of working their needles, the group will determine if they have enough to donate to charity. The women then decide on two charities to give to.

Humana’s director of sales and marketing, Dixon Keller, said the knitting group was a “grass-roots effort.”

“It was born here and now has grown nationwide,” Keller said. “The word got out to the rest of the country and other parts of Humana.”

Since 2009, the Henderson location has collected hundreds of thousands of pounds of clothing for veterans, Keller said.

Several of the Humana Charity Crafters’ offerings this months were red, white and blue in honor of the Fourth of July. Many of the women are mothers, aunts or wives to veterans or former veterans. It typically takes a week to a month to finish an item.

“This beautiful work is so appreciated by our veteran patients,” said Karen Cinnamon, voluntary services chief for North Las Vegas’ VA Medical Center.

They ladies previously have donated to the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, U.S. VETS-Las Vegas, Ronald McDonald House and senior homes.

The oldest member of the Humana Charity Crafters, Lillian DuPlessis, 91, finishes two or three a month. Originally from New Orleans, DuPlessis started coming to Humana in 2012 after her husband died.

“I used to do it when I was younger, but when I came here, I had forgotten about me crocheting when I was younger,” DuPlessis said.

Munoz helped DuPlessis by teaching her several crocheting patterns. Now she’s one of the fastest in the group, Munoz said.

“I know all the designs, but there’s one I find very easy, so that’s the one I work on,” DuPlessis said laughing.

Contact Alex Meyer at ameyer@viewnews.com or 702-383-0496. Follow @alxmey on Twitter.