They say the hand of God works in mysterious ways, and Newton resident Donna Baarda believes she is working through her hands with the teddy bears that she makes for charity.

Baarda has been making each teddy bear by hand for the last six years and has made 3,500 of them, all of which either have been or will be donated to various charities. Each bear takes two hours to complete, and she does them all from a chair in her impeccably clean sitting room. She also crotchets an assortment of other goods, including crotchet crosses for adults, but admits the bears are her favorite.

“I just felt like I needed to use my time more wisely,” Baarda said on why she started making the bears. “Not to waste my time and do something that may be of benefit to others. And as long as the Lord lets me have the wrist and the arm to do it, I’ll just keep doing it.”