St. Elizabeth’s knitting project keeps homeless warmer
“It’s an ongoing thing,” said St. Elizabeth’s member Lynn Moore, who heads up the knitting project. “There will be more after we hand these (50 scarves) out.
“Here’s the thing: (members) just show up … I might know somebody’s making a scarf, but typically, there’s a shelf that has yarn,” she added. “People bring in yarn, leave it on the shelf and someone would pick up that yarn and leave a scarf.”
The scarves then are delivered to Homeward Bound at the Community Action Committee and The Refuge at Volunteer Ministry Center.
“Both programs work directly with homeless people,” said Moore, who also volunteers at The Refuge. “I’m getting ready to deliver, and we have about 50 scarves.”
She noted they usually average about 40 to 50 scarves a year.
“We’re not a real big church, so I think that’s a really neat thing,” Moore said. “Most of us buy scarves because they are pretty and a nice accessory; (but) for the homeless population, they can really make a difference when you are out in the cold all day.
The scarf is “something that’s new; it’s not a hand-me-down,” she added. “I think it makes a real difference in their comfort level and how they feel when somebody did that for them.”
Before retiring, Moore worked with the homeless population at CAC for 17 years before working with Knoxville Police Department for 10 years. After her retirement, she wanted to fill some time, so she began volunteering.
“I have a comfort level” with the homeless population, Moore said.
Word of their knitting project got out about four years ago, encouraging a woman and her friends from New York City to make and send scarves to the church.
“She somehow saw that we were doing this — I guess on our church web page … she and her friends send a couple boxes of knitting items every year,” Moore said.
Along with scarves the woman has sent baby sweaters and blankets. “This year is a little bit different,” Moore said. “Homeward Bound, one of the programs we deliver to, has a specific program that works with homeless teenagers.
“... We didn’t know if we had funds for anything else, so we decided to let (the teens) have first choice of the scarves,” she added.
“I think that’s just touched a lot of people because to be a teenager and not have any family and be homeless … they probably came from a pretty bad situation to be homeless at that age.”
