Hard-working, crafty, local residents have been picking up their knitting needles, and unraveling their yarns for a great cause.

On Friday, Michaels at Wareham Crossing donated afghans, hats, and handbags to Turning Point, the Wareham-based day resource center for homeless and low-income people. The donated items were crocheted and knit by local residents and customers of Michaels.

Over the past year, the arts and crafts retailer stationed a box outside their Wareham Crossing location. Anyone was welcome to drop off 7-by 9-inch knitted or crocheted squares. Once the box was full, Michaels sponsored 'Joining Parties' where local residents came into the store's craft room and assembled the squares into blankets and afghans.

“It's been a fun project, and it's nice to help the community, and it's important,” said Michael's Events Coordinator Dottie Andrews. “Every month we had people coming in here, and we got more than we ever anticipated.” Andrews also said most of the the knit hats were donated by Wareham resident Diane Pierce.

The model for joining parties was the result of Michaels teaming up with the organization Warm Up America!, a charity founded in the early 1990s by the late Evie Rosen, who had the idea to gather volunteers together in her yarn shop in Wisconsin where they'd crochet colorful afghans and donate them to homeless shelters.

Judy Morgan, the volunteer from Turning Point on hand at Michaels accepting the donation said the organization has a kids' closet, called, "Baby Point", as well as an adults' closet.

“We have a lot of resources," Morgan said. "We have a lady that comes by and drops of diapers. It's all done by volunteers.”

Michaels will be continuing the drop-off box and scheduling more joining parties in upcoming months. Their next event is not scheduled at this time, but those interested are encouraged to keep an eye on the events section of Michaels' website at Michaels.com.

Turning Point's offices are located at Emmanuel Church of the Nazarene at 6 Rogers Ave. Turning Point is open from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. To contact them, call 508-291-0535.

For more information about Warm Up America! Foundation, visit WarmUpAmerica.org.