By Mark Abromaitis
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

"Something small means so much," Fannie Kessler says. "I’ve really found that people are willing to help out for a good cause if they simply have the information about it."

The outgoing Kessler took on the challenge to spread the word and start the Christmas Stockings for Soldiers program at Maris Grove, where she lives.

"I can’t knit. I can’t sew. I can’t really do too many things that are creative," Kessler says with a laugh. "But I can talk, and I can organize, and I can help provide our residents with the fabric and instructions they need to help out our soldiers."

To date, more than 60 Maris Grove residents and staff members have joined together to help create, pack, and mail more than 4,000 handmade and customized stockings for military troops overseas.

Demand exceeding supply
Four years ago, Kessler heard about the Stockings for Soldiers program from her daughter, who has neighbors serving the country overseas.

"I didn’t understand the program at first," Kessler says. "I thought, ‘Do soldiers really want Christmas stockings?’ But the more I learned from her friend [who received a stocking from the program] the more it made sense that anything made with love, that shows our support, would be welcome. So that’s what we try to do. We try to share a little love."

More than 8,000 stockings later, Kessler says that each year the demand for the stockings grows. "Each commanding officer sees the stockings and wants them for their own troops. It’s a compliment but hard to keep up with," she says, "because you never want to say ‘no.’"

‘Here to help out’
The project grew in popularity when Kessler appeared on Maris Grove’s in-house TV station asking for help from neighbors in any way possible. The response was overwhelming.