Norma LaMarche and Annette McCarthy volunteer their time teaching crafts at the Grafton Senior Center.
Photo credit: Jennifer Lord Paluzzi

GRAFTON, Mass. - Norma LaMarche and Annette McCarthy love to learn new crafts. Even better, they love to teach others the new crafts they have learned.

For the past few months, their crafty ways have created a Monday morning bright spot at the Grafton Senior Center, where their crafting class is often filled to capacity.

"It's basically what everybody wants to do," McCarthy said. "They bring in a project and they work upon it or we bring in a project and show them how to do something new."

"We don't want only to do our own ideas," added LaMarche. "This group is for everyone. We want to do what they want to do."

On this particular Monday, what everyone wants to do is pottery, and the pair arranged to have plaster figurines available for painting -- the finished work would be fired offsite. As the gathered women prepared to paint, they happily chatted about potential future projects.

A table in the craft room showcases some of the fruits of the group's labor -- crocheted scarves, handmade cards and necklaces and bracelets made from paper beads that were themselves created by the seniors.

Both McCarthy and LaMarche have spent most of their lives doing something creative. McCarthy has run St. John's Church's craft fair in South Grafton; both have been knitting and crocheting for years.

In addition to the weekly craft group, the twosome has organized movie showings, complete with popcorn and movie snacks, which have packed the senior center. McCarthy has also run a computer class.

"This was Annette's fault," LaMarche said of their volunteer efforts. "She invited me over to her place to do paper jewelry and make styrofoam Christmas balls. And we had so much fun, we just had to share it."

The pair now have access to the senior center's craft closet and supply of crafting books, which McCarthy said will likely keep them in ideas for quite a while.

"They're really dynamic ladies who have come into the senior center and breathed new life into our programming," Senior Center Director Michelle Drumm said. "It's amazing what volunteers can accomplish and they're so vital to our center."