The 92-year-old spends her days crafting teddies, beanies and scarves from wool that has either been given to her by village residents or purchased with her own money.

As resident of the Ingenia Gardens, Ms McCartney has been knitting since she moved to the senior's rental community nine years ago.

"I'd previously been participating in the Operation Christmas Box donation program and so when I moved here it was suggested to me that I might like to get involved with donating to the local Uniting Church," she said.

"I'm not really sure how I got into knitting, I just taught myself, it gave me something to do in my spare time and I've found it to be quite therapeutic - it's also a way that I can give back to others."

Since she started, Ms McCartney has encouraged other Ingenia Gardens residents to get involved and several have made teddies with her.

"If everyone donated of a bit of their time and effort to help others, then the world would be a much better place," she said.

"I hope that the beanies and teddies that I knit bring joy to the children who receive them."

Donations helps the Uniting Church hand out more than 1000 Christmas gift boxes to disadvantaged children each year.

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Charity work like this helps to add purpose to seniors lives said Ingenia Gardens Wagga Community Manager Tony Reichelt.

"It thinks it's very admirable that people like Betty, who don't always have much to give, donate their time and efforts to bring joy to people," he said.

"Our residents enjoy being able to give back to the community and it's always something we do throughout the year, but Christmas always feels like an extra special time of year."