By Eleanor Wilson
Each year the ladies of the Creative Women’s group at Narre Warren Baptist Church have spent their time knitting, sewing and crocheting for children in need.
Not even a global pandemic could get in the way of the determined knitters.
Despite lockdown restrictions, the 25 members have spent the last three years at home knitting, crocheting and sewing items for charity Samaritan Purse’s Operation Christmas Child initiative.
The culmination of three years’ worth of knitted items including bags, toys, hand puppets, dresses , scarves and beanies will be packed into shoe boxes along with school supplies and hygiene items for children in need across the world.
Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organisation, has been running the Operation Christmas Child program since 1996, last year donating 28,500 shoe boxes to disadvantaged children.
Samaritan’s Purse state manager for Operation Christmas Child, Carol Lennon, said most of the children who receive the boxes may have never received a gift in their life.
“We ask the public to fill their shoe boxes with something to love, so typically a soft toy they can cuddle, something to wear, so we get a lot of hand made beanies and scarves, something for hygiene and something to foster their learning,” she said.
“[The Creative Women’s group] had always been interested in doing little craft projects, in fact a lot of people in the community take on craft projects to fill the shoe box so it’s a great way to utilise their skills.”
Creative Women’s co-founder and leader Alice Ginns agrees the initiative is a win-win for the church group.
“It is great to help out children who have absolutely nothing…and for the ladies as well, a lot of them are widows and it gives them something to do at night as well,” she said.
Group member Stephanie Urbalski, who celebrated her 91st birthday last week, said knitting a series of children’s bags is a joy.
“I’ve been knitting since I was a little girl, my aunty taught me and I do it whenever I have the time,” she said.
Fellow group member Anne Lee said she has enjoyed spending her spare time to help those in need.
“If you’re out shopping and things are on special and you know they can use it, it’s nice to pick up a few things. Just a couple of dollars here and there, you don’t miss it,” she said.
Working with Samaritan’s Purse for several years, the boxes from the Narre Warren Baptist Church will go to disadvantaged children across the pacific, in nations such as Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Cambodia.
The Creative Women’s Group meets twice a month at Narre Warren Baptist Church, on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month, from 1pm to 3pm.
