To the editor:

The women on the North Shore deserve a big round of applause.

The response to the program I started to support cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment by knitting hats for children, has been nothing short of overwhelming.

Senior centers and others from Swampscott, Salem, Marblehead, Saugus, Ipswich, Manchester, Rockport, Wenham, Hamilton and Beverly have responded. The Beverly Senior Center ladies, directed by Peggy Wilson, have been extremely enthusiastic, and have contributed more than 400 hats alone.

This "Circle of Love Knitters" has made over 700 hats and expanded the program to include hats for women with cancer, lap robes and shawls for local nursing homes, small Teddy bears wearing knitted sweaters and hats for sick children, and some hats and scarves for the homeless.

The Teddy bears were fashioned by Peggy Wilson, and some of them have been donated to local ambulance services for sick or injured children, and also to the North Shore Children's Hospital in Salem.

These wonderful, handcrafted items are being given to the oncology departments at major Boston area hospitals, and will hopefully put a smile on faces of children fighting the battle with cancer.

For women, the Lahey cancer facility in Peabody and the North Shore Medical Center cancer clinic in Peabody also received hats.

Plans for the future include sending hats to children who have suffered severe burns.

We are also considering sending items to large, out-of-state cancer facilities for children.

We are just getting started. If you knit or crochet and would like to join our circle, or if you don't knit and would like to support the group, you may contact Circle of Love, 18 Wallis Drive, Wenham, MA 01984.

Bravo, ladies! Bravo!

Sylvia J. Collins

Wenham