HERMISTON — Bonnie Engle has given the gift of warmth to a lot of people over her 22 years in Hermiston.

Engle, a 90-year-old resident of Desert Sage Manor, makes dozens of quilts each year for donation to local nonprofits.

“A conservative guess for her, personally, would be she’s made about 2,000 quilts, and given them all away,” said Darleen Nelson, manager of Desert Sage Manor.

This year Engle, with help from Nelson and another resident, donated 142 handmade quilts to the Hermiston Police Department’s Christmas Express to give to families in need for Christmas.

They also donated about 60 more earlier in the year to Made to Thrive and Umatilla Morrow County Head Start, and residents of Desert Sage made and gave away more than 9,000 cloth masks this year.

Engle said she makes quilts in a variety of patterns, colors and sizes depending on what cloth is donated by community members or picked up on clearance sales.

“We make baby ones all the way up to twin size,” she said.

Over the years, some people who have received a quilt have sent thank you notes, and one year the police department presented Engle with a plaque thanking her for her service to Christmas Express over the years.

She said she first started quilting after she retired from the restaurant industry. She moved into Desert Sage Manor in 1999 and decided to start donating her work then.

Desert Sage Manor is part of the Retirement Housing Foundation, a faith-based housing organization for low-income seniors and people with disabilities. Nelson said Engle isn’t “great at bragging about herself,” but she wanted people to know how much she has put out into the community this year and in the past.

“She’s worked super hard,” Nelson said.