Man Makes Thousands of Charity Hats While in Hospice

Photo credit: Chris Clark/Spectrum Health Beat

Some people are truly generous. Morrie Boogaart, a 91-year-old man from Michigan, has been making charity hats for more than 15 years.

Even being in hospice care for terminal cancer hasn’t stopped him. He still uses a knitting loom to make hat after hat for the homeless population. Over the years, Boogaart has made too many hats to count. He doesn’t know exactly how many he has produced, because he stopped keeping track at 8,000.

He learned how to make the hats in 2001, when his daughter taught him while he was recuperating from hip surgery, Boogaart told Spectrum Health Beat.

He may be slower than he used to, but he isn’t stopping. Using yarn donated or received as gifts, he makes hat after hat in bed each day, donating the finished products to any charity that needs them, like the Salvation Army or local missions.

Boogaart has had a long life of helping others, from shoveling snow For neighbors to his service in World War II. Now, he’s spending his remaining days helping those in need keep warm.