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Knitting for Charityby Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur Knitting for charity can be a worthwhile way to put your talents to good use. Over the years, knitters have brightened countless individual's days by providing everything from warm hats for the military to little baby booties for premature infants. Joan Hamer, "the unofficial archivist of knitting charities" is profiled in the book A Passion for Knitting by Nancy J. Thomas and Ilana Rabinowitz. In A Passion for Knitting, she offers the following tips for knitting for charities: 1) Contact the charity before you begin work. This will allow you to make sure that they are still in existence, that you have a current address and that you will create an item that meets their needs. 2) Look in your own community for ways to help. It can be expensive to ship heavy knitted items. Look to your neighborhood hospital, women's shelter, etc. for opportunities to give. 3) Provide a way for the organization to acknowledge your donation. Many charities are run solely by volunteers and while a personal acknowledgement for every donation would be ideal, it is not always possible. This does not mean that your gift was not appreciated! If you wish to know that your gift was received, consider enclosing a self-addressed stamped postcard that a volunteer at the charity can simply put in the mail. 4) If delivering in person, find out to whom your donation should go. A simple phone call should put you in touch with the person to receive your goods. This makes sure that all your hard work meets its intended purpose. Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur is editor of The Spiritual Woman Newsletter and author of Letters to Mary from a Young Mother(iUniverse, 2004). She has a Master of Arts in Applied Theology from Elms College. |