'Nora's Knapsacks' carry on a giving tradition to help the homeless

The items in the knapsacks are mostly provided by the residents of Hickory Woods and the hats are knitted by a group of their crafty women residents. (Courtesy photo)

The entire senior community of Hickory Woods, located in Londonderry, has been providing local homeless and veteran organizations with donations to help those in need for 4 of the last 5 years. This story begins in the 1990's in Washington D.C. where Nora Morris of Davidsonville, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore, lived with her husband and two boys, Evan and Conner. There was no one defining event in Nora's life that made her care so passionately about the misfortune of others. It just happened.
Whatever the reason Nora eventually gravitated towards helping the homeless in Washington, D.C. While driving daily to and from work she initially started giving bottles of water and granola bar-type snacks to the homeless in the less desirable areas around D.C. and Baltimore. Even after Nora became a stay-at-home Mom, she carried additional items in her car such as $5.00 McDonalds gift cards and various toiletry type items. Her personal efforts in supporting the homeless continued to grow year after year and she eventually designed the bags/knapsacks that became her trademark known as "Nora's Knapsacks".
Unfortunately, in 2016 Nora's life was forever altered when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the age of 51. Sadly, Nora passed away on April 18, 2018. Apparently, it appears that early pancreatic cancer is almost undetectable in people from families not at high risk and thus normal life expectancy after diagnosis is only about one year.
When Nora's battle with cancer became known to her fellow parishioners at Holy Family Catholic Church in Davidsonville, Maryland and she became too sick to continue her efforts the parish rallied around her cause and "Nora's Knapsacks" became a permanent outreach program for the church.
At Nora's memorial service her husband Brian asked that instead of donations parishioners take a filled knapsack, put it in their vehicle and give it to a person in need in memory of their beloved Nora. How many people who participated in that request on that day will never be known but the parish has continued the practice for the past 6 years and counting. The church distributes approximately 500 knapsacks each year solely through the individual efforts of parishioners.
One of those who took a filled knapsack at Nora's funeral was Phyllis Morris, Nora's mother-in-law from Londonderry. Phyllis, her husband Tom and 2 local granddaughters started Nora's Knapsacks in Londonderry in 2018. Initially, they arranged to distribute 40 knapsacks to a homeless camp under a bridge in Lawrence, Massachusetts. In 2019 with additional encouragement, support, and donations from their pickleball friends in Litchfield and neighbors and friends in Hickory Woods they distributed about 100 knapsacks in Nashua and surrounding areas.
In 2020 when the Covid 19 Pandemic was raging, Phyllis and Tom, now in their 80's, were hard pressed to get much assistance from anyone, but they collected, filled, and distributed approximately 140 knapsacks by themselves. In 2021 they managed 187 knapsacks with much more support from their Hickory Woods Community. In 2022 Hickory Woods distributed 242 knapsacks to the homeless and veterans in the local area through Families in Transition/ New Horizons in Manchester and the Michael Stephen Boyd Foundation in Nashua, respectively.
This year there were 210 knapsacks filled with such things as hats, gloves, scarves, socks, voluminous toiletry type items, various snacks, handwarmers, ponchos, mylar blankets and other miscellaneous basic items. The items in the knapsacks are mostly provided by the residents of Hickory Woods and the hats are knitted by a group of their crafty women residents.The knapsacks have generously been donated by Scott McConnell of Phoenix Screen Printing in Nashua, who is the son of a resident. Another resident, Larry Martin of Embroidery Creations of Londonderry has donated various jackets, sweatshirts, tee shirts, long sleeve shirts, duffle bags and back backs, that are separate and apart from the knapsacks. The knapsacks and other items were again provided to the 2 organizations mentioned in 2022 for further appropriate distribution.
Although their neighbors and friends never knew Nora, Phyllis and Tom Morris are astounded by and forever grateful for the assistance, support and donations from their community and the others previously mentioned that continue to make this worthwhile project possible.
For anyone interested in further supporting "Nora's Knapsacks" via donations or otherwise please visit www.holyfamilychurch.com or www.fitnh.org