SALEM - Doris Ginchereau is 83, not too old to learn a new craft.

Ginchereau and the eight other women who make up the Housing Authority's quilting group are now learning how to sew.

The group met for several months before the ladies perfected their skills. Once they did, they decided to share their craft with men and women more than 6,000 miles away.

The class is sewing pillowcases and medical records bags for 18 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, whom the club adopted.

It's a mission that expands far beyond this group of ladies. The 200 residents who make up the authority have adopted the soldiers.

Two months ago, the group donated dozens of cans of insect repellent that the soldiers had requested. This month, they have collected hundreds of pairs of socks that they're about to mail to the soldiers.

And when that next package goes out, they'll also get new pillowcases - with prints ranging from teddy bears to plaids - a special request made by the soldiers who want a pillowcase that feels a little more like home.

"It was a request, because wherever a soldier gets sent, their pillow goes with them," said Rosemarie Tocarella, the volunteer teacher of the quilting group.

Tocarella is working on the pillowcases, too, and she said it's the first time she's ever given soldiers she didn't know a gift. She purchased the material and drawstrings at a discounted price of $32 and she considers it money well spent.

"It's a fabulous idea," she said. "And a well-deserved one, as far as I'm concerned."

As Tocarella shows off one of the pillowcases sewn by a quilting member, she opens it to show where she put her personal touch on each of the dozens of pillowcases the women have completed.

"We just give them this little message inside," she said, folding a pillowcase inside out to reveal a hand-stitched tag that reads, "We love you."

Carla Billingham, the authority's resident service coordinator, came up with the idea of adopting a platoon.

She said she was watching television when she got the idea. After doing some research, she decided Adoptaplatoon was the best nonprofit to work with.

Billingham said she thought that project would "excite and energize" the elderly residents of the town's four housing developments - and she was right.

The project has since expanded. The quilting group is now made up not only of residents, but includes daughters and friends of the residents from neighboring towns.

Mary Gallant of Methuen, Mass., joined because her best friend's mother is in the group. She said she's always wanted to learn how to quilt, but she has no experience.

She does, however, have experience with care packages.

She said her future son-in-law served in Iraq and came home last year. When he was there, Gallant and her daughter sent him newspapers and snacks at least once a month. And, she said, she knows he would have been especially grateful for a pillowcase made by a stranger from home.

"I can actually hear him," she said "He would've loved to get this, because it's from home. Anything from home makes them happy."

And doing the project makes members happy, according to those involved. They spend three hours quilting together each Tuesday night and spend a portion of that time making the pillowcases.

When the first shipment of more than 24 pillowcases is mailed off later this month, the women will begin to make medical records bags.

"The nice thing is it's not a big expense, but it shows they care," Billingham said. "And it makes them feel good."