The oldest man in Australia, Alfred "Alfie" Date, may be 109 years old, but that doesn't stop him from spending his time knitting tiny wool sweaters for tiny, injured penguins.
Date isn't one to say no to favors, so when Phillip Island's Penguin Foundation asked for him, among others, to donate their time and yarn to make woollen jumpers for little penguins to wear in the event of an oil spill in March last year, he couldn't refuse.
"The girls who used to work for me, they'll tell you I'm a sucker. I can't say no," Alfred told Australia's Channel 9 News. "It's a good way of getting along in life. You make friends all the time but you don't make a fool of yourself either."
When Date was making the sweaters, he was spending 12 or more hours a day knitting.
When the Penguin Foundation asked Date, who has been knitting for more than 80 years, for his help, they knew he was their "most senior little penguin jumper knitter." However, they apparently had no idea he was the most senior person in the whole country.
"We knew he was over 100 years old, but had no idea he was declared the oldest person in Australia," Danene Jones, who works at the Penguin Foundation, told Channel 9 News. "It's amazing and we feel quite privileged to have him dedicating his time and effort to the Penguin Foundation."
As for now, the foundation has plenty of tiny penguin sweaters and doesn't need any more donations.
