Knitting and giving seem to go hand-in-hand. Somehow, it just feels right.
Here at the Richmond Public Library a group of us volunteers run free monthly knitting workshops teaching crafts including knitting, crochet, and loom to anyone interested.
Our goal was firstly to connect with (and expand!) our knitting community, to share new skills, and to bring people together in an encouraging and comfortable space. Our newest participant Traci shared with us over an email: “I also thought the session really brought the community together – there was a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere and, even as a new person to the group, I felt very welcome and included. ”
One of our highlights through this project was watching this community come together. For example, at one of our workshops, Donna had remarked: “I see you at Fabricana all the time!”, after finally meeting Daisy for the first time.
We asked participants to kindly donate items they knit with materials provided with support from the grant to charities our group had identified, including the Richmond Cancer Clinic and BC Children’s Hospital. Since our first workshop in July we have made over 200 hats, scarves, and mittens.
The grant provided by the Vancouver Foundation and Richmond Cares Richmond Gives empowered us with the opportunity to purchase all the equipment and materials for participants to use. This reduced the barrier to entry and enabled participants of Knit for Charity to engage in an activity together towards a common charitable goal.
The Richmond Public Library generously provided a space for us to host our workshops, and programmed Knit for Charity sessions on their program calendar. Since July there were 5 workshops programmed with 77 registrant participants. In addition, many participants worked together outside of these programmed workshops.
On display at Brighouse Library is our ‘Christmas Tree’ (photo included) made of hats, scarves, mittens, and dolls we will be donating. The tree shares information on the charitable causes we are donating to and we hope this will inspire community members to contribute in their own way.
Share post:
