Mission Projects . . .
At home
Warm Up America!
Information taken from warmupamerica.org
Warm Up America! (WUA!) is an organization made up of volunteers who create handmade afghan blankets, clothing and accessories to help those in need. These items provide warmth and comfort to people who have lost their homes, fled abusive relations, or are being cared for in hospices, shelters, hospitals, and nursing home.
Evie Rosen, a former yarn retailer and nationally known knitting teacher who resides in Wausau, Wisconsin, came up with the idea for Warm Up America! because she wanted to do something to help the homeless. Her simple concept of asking customers, friends and the community to knit and crochet 7" X 9" sections that would be joined into afghans grew into a nationwide program that has produced more than 250,000 afghans. These afghans have been donated to victims of natural disasters, battered women's shelters, the homeless, and others in need.
In joining with Warm Up America! we will be involved in a local mission project that will be about providing a small source of comfort to the children of women who have fled abusive homes in order to protect themselves and their children. We will make soft, warm blankets that a child can hold onto, wrap up in and eventually take with them when they leave the shelter.
We will donate our childrens' blankets to DARCC (Domestic Abuse and Rape Crisis Center) in Warren County. Our childrens' blankets will be made of 5 inch granny squares. Please take one of the 5 inch squares on our bulletin board that provides the name of the yarn, colors, and the size crochet hook we will be using.
and Across the World . . .
Join our knitting & crocheting project and help
us make blankets for the cold children of Soweto
Information taken from knit-a-square.com
The Soweto Comfort Club (SCC) is a charity whose aim is to help the people of Soweto. Started three years ago, its mission has been to uplift parishes in Soweto by serving the tens of thousands of underpriveleged people who live there. Many of these people are affected by HIV AIDS. As a result of HIV AIDS, there are great numbers of orphaned children. SCC began by collecting and distributing such things as kitchen equipments, curtain, bedding, clothing, toys and books for the people of Holy Rosary Parish in Phiri, Soweto. They also started a soup kitchen. Their newest mission is the Knit-a-Square project. Its first goal is to supply a blanket for every child in need in the Phiri Parish. After that, they hope to expand this project to the rest of Soweto, nearby squatter camps, South Africa, Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa.
That goal may seem unachievable, but an 8" x 8" square is easy and cheap to knit and send. The women of the Soweto Comfort Club are committed to the project. There have already been enthusiastic responses from knitters in Australia, UK, USA, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The first squares left for Soweto from Australia on October 19, 2008 and arrived in early November.
As an outreach beyond our community, we will partner with SCC to provide 8x8 inch squares that will be used to make blankets for orphans in Soweto. Please take one of the 8 inch squares on our bulletin board. The square provides information knitting or crocheting a square.
DON'T KNIT? HATE TO CROCHET? If you would like to help us with these projects, we will be happy to accept donations of yarn! Feel free to donate "scrap" yarn that you have leftover from other projects that we can use for the Knit-a-Square Project or purchase new skeins of Caron Simply Soft Eco yarn (available at Walmart for $2.47/skein) for our Warm Up America! project. We will also be happy to accept monetary donations to use towards mailing knitted and crocheted squares to South Africa. Thank you!