DALTON — A cold night — and a sight Lisa Turner won’t soon forget — inspired Turner to start a blanket drive at Dalton Senior Center.

Turner, a program assistant at the Senior Center, was driving on North Street in Pittsfield after dropping her grandson off at the Berkshire Family YMCA. As she walked down the street, she saw a group of homeless residents gathered on the sidewalk, bracing for low temperatures and winter conditions.

She saw a man huddled for warmth on a piece of plastic. It was at that precise moment that she decided to act.

“I couldn’t stand the idea,” Turner said, thinking of even colder months to come. “It bothered me.”

The resulting blanket drive, underway since early December, has collected 28 blankets so far, as seniors, volunteers and donors dropped off their spare blankets at 40 Field St. Ext.

Turner said some donors purchased brand new blankets just for the effort, announced in the Senior Center’s December newsletter — others dropped off sleeping bags. Turner’s co-workers also donated blankets and sleeping bags instead of giving each other small gifts this year for the holidays.

Turner started by donating blankets directly to the homeless on North Street, but now they’re branching out into outreach programs. Turner sent many to Berkshire Harm Reduction, at 42 Summer St. in Pittsfield, where workers distributed them to homeless clients. Program manager Sarah DeJesus, who is also Turner’s daughter, helped organize the distribution effort.

The effort was so successful that the harm reduction team was barely able to keep the collected items on the shelves, Turner said, as word spread through the community that blankets were available. This campaign is not exclusive to the harm reduction office: Turner said she will work with any organization that wants to help with distribution.

The general campaign will continue indefinitely, Turner said. Anyone wishing to donate to the cause can drop off blankets at the Dalton Senior Center at 40 Field St. Ext. The center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday.

For now, Turner is just happy that the Senior Center community has rallied so enthusiastically around the cause.

“I’m proud of the Senior Center,” Turner said, “and all the little ‘elves,’ so to speak, who brought things in to help us.”