A Bonney Lake woman has taken it upon herself to keep local homeless from having damp feet.

Hazel Stewart, 84, has partnered with the Bonney Lake and Bread of Life food banks to collect socks, and cash donations to buy socks, for the homeless.

“I got to thinking about the homeless in our city and how it’s cold all over,” Stewart said. “It seems to me that socks are such a simple way to stay warm, and that it would be a way to help.”

Food Bank Director Stew Bowen signed off on the idea and now Stewart collects donations at the Bonney Lake Food Bank on Tuesdays and the Bread of Life Food Bank on Fridays, from 10 a.m. to noon.

Stewart also crochets knit caps for donation and encourages others to do the same.

“It’s an easy item to make,” she said. “Just a straight and simple knit pattern sewn together into a cap, and you have something that will keep your head very warm.”

Stewart is donating her time because she understands how difficult it is for homeless in the Plateau area to reach resources for help, she said.

“There’s nothing left here available to (the homeless),” she said. “I have a lot of empathy for these people. They lose a job, their home… I’m 84 years old and living in a house that I own. I can afford to help in the little way I can.”