By Wendy Humphrey
Just in time for the winter months, Lisa Camillone, of Ewing, the athletic trainer at Mercer County Community College (MCCC), recently donated more than 100 hand-knitted hats to the Needlework Guild of America (NGA). The group organizes and distributes collections of handmade and new items to a variety of New Jersey charities.
According to Camillone, her knitting project started out as a little stress relief in her spare time last February, but it gradually turned into a mission to spread the warmth this winter. She notes that the hats boast unique color combinations and range in size from infant to adult.
Camillone’s daughter, Andrea, a sophomore at MCCC, soon got drawn into her mom’s philanthropic activity, and began making hats of her own to add to the pile. The project got even bigger when Andrea, who works in the after-school program at Grover Middle School in West Windsor, asked students there if they might want to join in. She has organized a group of enthusiastic 5th and 6th graders who are working towards adding 30 hats to the total by Christmas.
Camillone notes that the generosity of many others is reflected in her work. “When I started out, I reached out to fellow employees at Mercer, who donated skeins of yarn left over from some of their projects.” Andrea, too, found generous donors when she publicized the project at the middle school. “An art teacher gave us what we needed,” she said.
Ginger Meredith, president of NGA’s Trenton branch, was delighted to get the phone call from Camillone and come by the college to pick up the hats. “I am thrilled and grateful,” she said, noting that the hats will be distributed through several charitable organizations.
According to Meredith, in the past year NGA has donated to Anchor House/Angel’s Wings, Capital Health Foundation, Children’s Home Society, Children’s Futures Inc., Mill Hill Child and Family Develop Center, Morris Hall, Mount Carmel Guild, Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and United Progress Inc. (Meredith welcomes new NGA members. For more information, email [email protected].)
Camillone plans to continue making hats for a long time to come. She continues to request donations of leftover yarn, which can be dropped off at the MCCC Physical Education office, located at the West Windsor campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road.

