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Hudson-based Group Makes Dolls For Children in Need

Touched By The Angels

Cheryl Bentley/SUNCOAST NEWS

The Angels members Gloria Mirra, left, and Effie Lazerow make dolls that will go to children in area hospitals and other facilities benefiting children. The Angels meets weekly at CARES Hudson-Bayonet Point Enrichment Center, in Bayonet Point.

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By Cheryl  Bentley | The Suncoast News

Published: November 7, 2007

The fingers dip and leap, still nimble after 83 years.

Here, all that life they have touched, its sweetness and its setbacks, comes together in the act of giving.

Louise Manolakos sits threading needles to sew cloth dolls that will be given to children in need.

She is one of The Angels, a small group of women and one man who meets weekly at CARES Hudson-Bayonet Point Enrichment Center, in the Bayonet Point area, to make the dolls.

Last year, they made 920 dolls, all different. The Toymakers, a West Pasco group that crafts handmade wooden toys for children in need, delivered them, along with their toys, to children in various facilities, such as hospitals and domestic violence shelters.

Helping the children has produced an unexpected byproduct: The women have bonded during their Wednesday meetings and have become fast friends.

"We meet here," says Helen Wagner, who describes herself as one of the babies of the group at 67. "We pick at each other. We tease each other. We become good friends."

Today, the conversations among the doll makers are as nimble as their fingers, jumping easily from topic to topic.

All the regulars are present except Karen Payten.

Larry Olmstead, 72, the lone male in the doll-making group, does the heavy work, bringing in supplies when they are needed.

"I hope you're not going to put all our ages in," laughs the 83-year-old Manolakos. "Just tell them we're over 30."

Manolakos has been a member of the group since it started at what was at the time known as the Hudson Senior Center.

It began when the Toymakers needed extra hands to paint the wooden toys they had made. When that job was done, members decided to make dolls to give with the toys.

They moved to the CARES facility about five years ago.

Toymaker Tom Loughlin gave the doll-making group its name when he was waiting for them one day. When they arrived, he said spontaneously, "Here come the angels."

The name is appropriate, Loughlin says.

"They bring smiles to children just like angels do. When have you ever seen a child who is distressed or sick who hasn't had an angel looking over his shoulder?"

Today, the talk centers on the entertainment headline of the moment, the death of singer Robert Goulet. The Angels reminisce about the experiences of listening to the entertainer who rose to fame portraying Sir Lancelot in the Broadway hit "Camelot" in 1960.

The talk reminds 85-year-old Effie Lazerow of another beloved singer. "I like Placido," she says, referring to the late Italian operatic tenor Placido Domingo. "Oh, boy, that Placido, I tell you."

Lazerow joined the group only a month ago. She suffers from macular degeneration, an eye disease that causes in the progressive loss of the sufferers central visual field. For Lazerow, the vision disorder case makes it difficult to do close-up tasks such as sewing, reading and writing.

So she is limited to stuffing the dolls only, but that's fine with Lazerow.

"I love being here. It's a godsend for me."

In today's group of seven Angels, Francene Trantina, at 63, is the youngest. She stops by to pick up dolls on which she will draw faces at home.

The others do their work at the CARES Center on Clock Tower Parkway. Most of them do whatever needs to be done, from cutting out dresses and dolls from patterns, to stuffing them, to drawing faces.

Today, is a special day. It is the birthday of Stephanie Wayne. Someone has brought cupcakes for the occasion.

Amidst laughter, Wayne refuses to say exactly how old she is. She settles for describing her age as "80-something."

She has been sewing since she was 12, she says, and used to be a professional drapery maker. "I love to make drapes. They don't talk back to you."

Wayne points to a pile of dolls she has worked on at home.

She takes them home to sew the fronts and backs of the dolls together and to sew the dresses for them. The women give all dolls lace headdresses.

She tries to be creative when choosing the color of the lace, Wayne says. She holds up a doll and points to the lace.

"The green here kind of picks up the green here," she says, noting the doll's dress.

Wayne lives alone, except for, as she lovingly points out, another angel, her Yorkshire terrier Angel.

This week, she has brought more than 20 dolls she has sewn and clothed. Some weeks, she does more.

"It's nothing for her to make 50 in a week," says Helen Wagner a retired former data-entry clerk at Bayonet Point Middle School.

Wagner's specialty is painting faces on the dolls. Members who do the faces have their own styles.

"I usually look at the doll and what's she's wearing and visualize what her face would look like and what color her hair would be."

Some dolls just seem to have the brunette and others the blonde looks, she says.

If tiny painted red hearts will be visible on the dress, she always paints one on.

Wagner tears up. "It just lets those kids know that somebody cares about them."

The Angels do not meet the children who will receive their dolls, but the youngsters are always on their minds.

"We know where this is going," says Gloria Mirra, 80. "We have had children."

They pull out a collection of letters of thanks from organizations whose patients and clients have received the dolls.

The children are, indeed, delighted with the dolls, says Loughlin, who delivers them.

Their reactions?

"Smiles," he says.

How you can help

The Angels need people to sew, stuff or draw faces on the dolls. To help call Louise Manolakos at 727-868-5218.

They also need donations of fabric, lace and especially polyester fiberfill. Tom Loughlin, one of the Toymakers, will pick them up. Call him at 727-868-9342.

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