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HIGH POINT — Members of the Red Hat Society are well known for their red and purple outfits and their knack for socializing. For Mary Reber, however, that wasn't enough.
Five years ago, Reber recalled last week, "I'm thinking, why can't we do something rather than just go out to lunch?"
This week, the Red Hat Mamas of High Point will launch their fifth year of adopting a local grandmother who is raising a grandchild, taking on the love, care and management of nurturing the next generation of family.
The chapter's queen mum, Marge Pilipchuk, 70, said the Mamas "started doing for people who needed help in our community" from the time the chapter was formed in 2004.
Reber, also 70, said "grandmothers" clicked with her and others in the 24-member chapter because many are grandmothers themselves, ranging in age from 55 to 80.
Pilipchuk has seven grandchildren, in Illinois and Texas. Reber is grandmother to five, in Minnesota and Utah.
Grandparents here and elsewhere are increasingly being called upon for primary parenting duties. And with many of them retired and living on Social Security, their financial resources are often limited.
Pine Grove K-8 School agreed to provide the society with names of some grandmothers raising grandchildren.
The Red Hatters each decided to chip in $1 a month to an adoptive fund to help one grandmother annually throughout the year.
At Christmas, the women buy a turkey and milk for the family. Individual members, from their own pocketbooks, purchase clothes for the children.
"We make sure they have a couple of toys," Reber added.
Local businesses have added holiday treats. Guido's Italian Restaurant serves up a family dinner. A-1 Hair Design coifs grandma with a new hairdo.
At Easter, the Mamas deliver a ham and milk. A member crafts Easter baskets for each child while others color eggs to fill them.
Because of privacy restrictions, names of the recipients are not made known, even to the Red Hat Mamas, who deliver their largesse to the school.
Last year, however, the recipient came forward of her own volition to express her thanks. She is a great-grandmother responsible for her grandson and two great-grandchildren.
This year's chosen grandmother is rearing four children in kindergarten through Grade 2.
Of the "adoptions," Pilipchuk said the grandmothers have been called back to active service "when the parents can't take care of their kids (because of) drugs or a parent walking away. None of them are situations we'd want to be in."
In publicizing their project, Reber said, "the goal is to get it out there so that other Red Hats may do something."
Fundraising for the 2010-11 grandmother will begin with a kickoff brunch at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Main Street Eatery in downtown Brooksville. The Red Hat Mamas will be attired in red and purple pajamas.
Is it a subtle message that grandmas need more sleep? Not really, said the queen mum.
"We're a little crazy," she said. "You've got to do something silly in your life."
Beth Gray can be contacted at graybethn@earthlink.net.
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