The winter chill has well and truly set in, but people in need all over the world will soon be able to keep warm thanks to another season’s labour of love from the Eden Wrap With Love knitters.
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The group, which meets once a fortnight at the Eden Library to make blankets for the needy, has set up a display in the old butchers shop window at Twofold Arcade, to allow the town to admire their handiwork before it is shipped off to Sydney for distribution next Friday.
Around a dozen members make up the group, but group member Valma Barber says many contributions of knitted squares are sent in by other local residents, while patients visiting Curalo Medical Clinic also play a part by knitting squares in the waiting room.
“A lady from Rotary will come and pick them up next Friday and organise for them to go to the Wrap With Love Warehouse in Sydney,” Valma said.
“From there they distribute them; they go all over the world, and we also keep some locally for the residents at our nursing homes.
“Last year, we displayed them in the library for a day, but I thought that with so many empty shops up here, we could put them in a window and let everybody see them.
“A lot of people around Eden have knitted squares, but they never see what they go towards.”
Over the past 20 years, Wrap With Love has sent more than 323,000 blankets to people in over 75 countries with the help of World Vision and World Mission, including Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and countries in Africa and the Balkans.
Victims of natural disasters also benefit from the program, with many flood victims in Brisbane receiving wraps in the past few years.
Fellow group member Jane Adam says it is nice to know a simple blanket can make such a difference.
“It’s really nice to see how many people it’s helping, and we’ve been on the Wrap With Love website and seen photos of the blankets being distributed overseas and comments from the children,” she said.
“Jan Aveyard started the group locally, and we’ve been doing it for about four years now.
“It’s been great comradeship, getting together with all the ladies and now being able to see the results and know where they’re going to.”
The Wrap With Love knitters’ next meeting is at the Eden Library on Friday, July 25, from 1.30pm.
New knitters are welcome, and anyone wishing to join can contact Margaret Sheaves on 6496 1924.
