Prisoners, quilt guild partner to sew holiday stockings for local charities

October 26, 2011 at 8:58 a.m. | Updated October 26, 2011 at 8:58 a.m.

These three stockings are examples of the handcrafted Christmas stockings fashioned by prisoners at the Algoa Correctional Center. Stockings from three different state prisons were donated to three central Missouri food pantries including SERVE, Inc.
These three stockings are examples of the handcrafted Christmas stockings fashioned by prisoners at the Algoa Correctional Center. Stockings from three different state prisons were donated to three central Missouri food pantries including SERVE, Inc.

The Christmas spirit has hit early for some this year.

Though it's only October, the Missouri River Quilt Guild - together with the Missouri Department of Corrections Restorative Justice program - donated nearly 200 handmade Christmas stockings this month to three area food pantries. The "Fill Their Stockings" Christmas project donated the stockings in hopes the pantries could auction, raffle or sell them to bring in needed funds for food.

The three charities benefiting from the gift are SERVE, Inc., in Fulton, the Samaritan Center in Jefferson City and the Central and Northeast Missouri Food Bank in Columbia.

SERVE received 52 stockings, each one displaying its own unique design.

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.