Story 9 -- We Get Letters | We Get Boxes

We get letters...
stacks and stacks
of letters and e-mails...

• Paris, IL

Thanks to Margaret Huckeby, Paris, IL, for sending a news clipping about WUA! Along with other volunteers (three new people joined as a result of the newspaper article), Margaret had completed several afghans and was hoping to continue it....

Joyce Jones from Norfolk, NE, nicknamed her first WUA! afghan, “My Monstrosity,” we called it patchwork of love!

• Eagan, MN

We were delighted to receive an e-mail from a group of volunteers at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, Eagan, MN, which had just completed their first Warm Up America! afghan. The group includes “three teenagers, one seven-year-old, one grandmother and two working mothers.”

• Medina, OH

Robin Brown rallied 30 volunteers at the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Medina, OH, as well as neighboring communities and churches, to help WUA! and boy were they busy. They distributed 19 full-size afghans and 6 baby-sized afghans to the Medina County Community Services Center for distribution, and others to local nursing homes and to the Brunswick Food Pantry.

• Fresno, CA

To Chief “Knit Wit” Betty Gates from Fresno, CA, we love your e-mails and kudos to you and all of your friends who for three years have been Warming Up Fresno. In the last e-mail, Betty reported the group had completed over 4,000 sections. The finished full-size afghans were donated to Poverello House, a center for the homeless; lap-size went to the local VA Medical Center, and baby-size, to a local church for distribution. The Knit Wits also make caps for babies, juniors and adults. What a great group!

• San Pabo, CA

Milton Hull sent us a video of his very special wife Helen. He admitted that if Helen knew he was writing to us, “she'd probably kill me..” but he was so impressed with her work for WUA! that he want to share it with us.

• Laguna Beach, CA

Heather Stewart e-mailed us to say the activities committee at South Coast Medical Center in Laguna Beach, CA, had chosen WUA! as an ongoing project. They had a lunchtime kick-off last fall and now they are getting together as the “Lunchtime Stitchers,” both to teach new crafters and encourage others to join. Reports Heather, “Both the hospital and the community will benefit from this great project. Thank you for the super idea.” Return to top

We Get Boxes...

As many of you know, the Council encourages people to assemble and donate WUA! afghans in their own communities in the spirit of ³neighbors helping neighbors.² However, we always gratefully accept donations of sections and afghans at our North Carolina office. And we receive lots and lots of boxes...

Ginny Matheo, owner of CROSS STITCHERS THREE in Plantation, FL, sent a box filled with sections as well as finished afghans. Ginny has been a big supporter of WUA! for almost two years and she offers free classes‹²Warm Up America Crocheting² and ³Warm Up America Knitting.² ³I offer these classes each time a newsletter goes out (quarterly). I feel that is has been very successful. I also have a sign in my window that states we need stitchers to volunteer their services...I am proud and privileged to send them to you.²

Special thanks to Catherine Forrest, coordinator for the Service and Project Group of Trinity Reformed Church, United Church of Christ, Collegeville, PA, for four boxes, totalling 406 sections. This is the third year Catherine and her volunteers have sent their beautiful knitted and crocheted sections, which brings the total to 1,200 pieces.

Thanks to Henrietta McGrade of Sigel, PA and Laura Haight of Brookville, PA, for sending over 200 sections, which were used to create four beautiful afghans.

Three boxes brimming with 1,070 rectangles were contributed by members of Pamela Nixon¹s Arts and Crafts class from the Grand Strand Senior Center, Myrtle Beach, SC. The sections were made into 21 beautiful afghans.

Four members of the Service Group at Oak Hill Village, Waukesha, WI, are pictured working on WUA! afghans. They are (l. to r.): Rosemary Crane, Evelyn Riemen, Winifred Richards and Dhun Dastun.

Thanks to the volunteers at the Service Group at Oak Hill Village, Waukesha, WI, for their boxes of sections and to Rosemary Crane who introduced the group to WUA! In addition to sharing their talents with us, they have assembled and donated WUA! afghans locally.

Pictured are some of the Warm Up America! participants from Barnesville, OH, who contributed 13 full-size afghans and over 750 sections: (seated l. to r.) Donna Eagon, Krysti Henderson, Erma Van Fossen; (2nd row) Kim Henderson, Judy Seidel, Mary Howell, Jeannie Null, Paula Seneff; (3rd row) Pat Fields, Carolyn Deaton and Sandy Saffield. Special thanks to Sandy, owner of SANDY¹S CRAFT AND HOBBY store in Barnesville, where volunteers gathered throughout the project and thanks to the over 25 people who also contributed their talents and yarn!

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