The Joy of Giving

Last weekend when we visited Vancouver Cindy gave me a very large box of skeins of yarn. It was stuff she had gotten on "freecycle" which is an online group where they pretty much exchange things they do not need any longer.

It was not until I got it home and sorted that I realized how much was there (must have been about 50 skeins...many of them still in packaging). I bagged it up and took it to my Thursday "group"...these ladies gather every Thursday at a local community hall to share their projects, ideas, support and friendship. The bags of yarn were a big hit and I know that many of the ladies were able to take home yarn for projects that they would not otherwise have been able to afford.

From there I took the remaining 25 or 30 skeins to a place called the "Kids Zone". It is located in Depoe Bay and is a non-profit after school activity center for school age kids. I had heard lots of good things about what they do with the kids (music lessons, craft projects, reading tutoring, etc) and also that they had some kids who were learning to knit. I just happened to stop by when the main players (director, activity director, etc) were there having a planning meeting. The welcome was overwhelming. They will definitely put the yarn to good use. They said they have many kids with busy hands that want such things to work with. Also got to talking to them and there is even a possibility that I can get the kids working on knitting or crocheting leprosy bandages for Vietnam. They said there is one young man that just keeps knitting this long row of stitches...like a very long scarf. I thought instantly of the bandages which have to be 48 inches long. I need to go back there and take them bandage instructions so they can see what can be done.

This day had not promised "warm fuzzies" but I definitely got them out of finding such good recipients for Cindy's big box of yarn. A big thank you to her for passing it on...or "paying it forward" which she has done a lot lately.