By Stephanie Grinnell

Staff Writer

    Besides creating Mother’s Day, the Fraternal Order
of Eagles is dedicated to raising money for charity. Betty Winn, 75, is
very passionate about being a member of the Eagles in Biddeford and
supporting their causes. Winn became involved in the Eagles Club when
she began attending meetings with her husband, Ed, who joined the club
in the mid 1970s.

    According to the history posted on their Web site,
the Eagles made the first national public plea for Mother’s Day. Frank
E. Hering, a Past Worthy President of the Eagles, began making the plea
in 1904 to his fellow Eagles, years before then President Woodrow
Wilson declared Mother’s Day would be held on the second Sunday in May.
The Eagles began celebrating Mother’s Day in 1912, two years before the
rest of the country.

    Winn created a little history of her own in 2004
when she was elected the first female president of the Biddeford Eagles.

    Though she has stepped down as president, Winn has
been assigned to raise money for charity. Each “past worthy president”
or PWP is assigned a different charity for which to raise funds. The
Maine State Aerie of The Fraternal Order of Eagles President Jeff
Campbell of Portland chose the charity this year assigned to Winn as
the Blanket Project run by the Long Creek Youth Development Center in
South Portland. The Blanket Project allows the juveniles at the center
the chance to do something different that helps people in need. The
blankets that are made at the center are donated to daycares, homeless
shelters and have even been taken by Sen. Olympia Snowe to Afghanistan
to be given to children in need. Winn said the boys also make
backpacks, hats and mittens in addition to the blankets.

    Winn described her fundraising efforts as focused on
collecting yarn for the group of boys that crochet blankets at Long
Creek. She has also collected scraps of fabric, such as fleece, to
donate to Long Creek and said that anything the boys can’t use for the
Blanket Project goes to the girls at the center for other projects.
Winn has raised nearly $4,000 in cash and materials for the Blanket
Project so far and still has more fundraisers in the works to benefit
the center.

    Winn met with some of the boys at Long Creek and was impressed with their crocheting skills.

    “I was talking to them and they just kept going,
they never stopped,” said Winn, adding that they boys were doing
complicated patterns as well as using more than one piece of yarn at a
time. “I was so happy and they were so happy to meet me.”

    The next fundraiser being put on by Winn is a
planned yard sale to be held at the Eagles Club on April 21. The club
is located at 57 Birch Street in Biddeford. Winn said she has already
collected a large amount of donated items for the yard sale in addition
to what she has donated herself.

    In addition to the yard sale, Winn has collected
half of the winnings from the January and February 50/50 drawings that
were held during the Eagles’ weekly Saturday night dances. She has also
begun selling raffle tickets at $1 each and plans to hand out posters
advertising the raffle to other aeries and giving each aerie $50 worth
of tickets to sell all over the state. Winn has also collected a number
of business and private monetary donations.

    Winn’s fundraiser continues through the end of the
year but she said that she plans to carry on her own fundraising
project to keep the donations coming to Long Creek.

To donate items for the yard sale, call Winn at 282-6034 and leave a
message including a phone number if there is no answer. Monetary
donations are accepted as well, make checks out to “Friends of Long
Creek” and mail to 912 Limerick Road, Arundel, ME 04046.