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This month we are moving to Europe.  Elaine Jones is the author of this truly incredible story of Knit For Life.

Meet the KAS Family – Pam Johnson & Elaine Jones from the Welsh Marches in the UK and their charity, Knit for Life

We both discovered KAS at around the same time – back in 2009 – and ‘met’ each other on the KAS forum.  As we both live in Shropshire, we decided to meet up in person and have been friends ever since.  At that time Elaine was just crocheting and posting a few squares at a time.  Pam, on the other hand, had embraced KAS with all her usual enthusiasm and was collectiing squares from knitters around her local area, posting them to South Africa at her own expense.   The word spread and the trickle of squares soon became a deluge.  We used to pack the squares into 2 kg. parcels which Pam would then take to her local post office.   It didn’t take long for us to realise that this situation couldn’t continue – it was taking too much time and Pam was heading for bankrupcy!

Elaine had had some experience of setting up and running charities so Knit for Life was born.  We received some early donations which helped us enormously, then Elaine researched and found a company that would ship boxes of knitting to South Africa for us at a discount.  

From left to right:  Elaine, Pam and Lynn – our loyal and much appreciated volunteer.

For a while, we stored all the knitting in Pam’s spare bedroom but as the volume increased, we were fortunate to be offered the use of a static caravan as a storeroom by some friends.  The caravan was elderly as you can see:

but it more than served its purpose for several years.  When the roof disintegrated to such an extent that  it became impossible to keep the rain out, our wonderful friends decided to build a garage block, incorporating a ‘shed’ for our exclusive use:

Moving day was hard work but great fun and the Woolshed was soon full to bursting.

Knit for Life was originally established to help us raise funds so we could afford the costs of shipping to South Africa but it has become so much more.  We both realised that people like to knit and find it therapeutic in so many ways but as children and grandchildren grow up the opportunities for knitting become less.  By offering to accept their knitting for distribution to good causes, we can provide a reason for people to knit again.   We don’t really know how many people knit for us but we do know that they all find it rewarding and love being useful.   A lot of the knitting we receive isn’t suitable for KAS but there are many worthy causes and, apart from KAS, our knitting now also goes to local hospitals and care homes as well as Eastern Europe and the Middle East. 

We hold a monthly meeting at a community shop in Oswestry where we ask volunteers to help us sort out the various sized squares we receive and sew in the ‘ends’.  Several of the volunteers happily take home bundles of squares to sew them up into blankets.  One such volunteer is a very energetic great-grandmother who also volunteers in a local charity shop from which she ‘rescues’ soft toys that they don’t sell.  Many of these find their way into the boxes we send to South Africa.  Mona has a good social life and family living nearby but she is widowed and the evenings on her own can seem very long indeed.   Sewing squares into blankets, sometimes piecing together odd-sized squares like a jigsaw, keeps her occupied and gives her a great sense of satisfaction.

We are frequently contacted through our website – www.knitforlife.co.uk –by knitters keen to donate their knitting to us.  We have to restrict the donations we receive, only accepting knitting from people in our local area (apart from a few exceptions) otherwise we would soon be drowning in woolly mayhem!  A recent query came from a lady in South Shropshire who asked if she could donate some jumpers and a blanket to us.  She mentioned that her friend had also made a blanket that she would like us to have.  Her friend had knitted the blanket whilst sitting with her husband as he underwent chemotherapy.   What better way to find occupation, comfort and distraction?

When we’re not collecting knitting or packing up boxes and bundles to send around the world, we have to find the time to raise the funding we need to ship to South Africa and to support Ronda and her team.  We apply for grants whenever they become available and take a stall at least twice a year at local fairs, running Pam’s version of a tombola (don’t ask!).  As a registered charity, we are able to raise funds via EasyFundraising and we receive small donations from supporters from time to time.   Where these are made by taxpayers, we can increase these donations by claiming Gift Aid from the Revenue.  We have just received a cheque, along with about a dozen boxes of knitting, from an Inner Wheel group who have been supporting us almost from the start.    As Ronda knows only too well, fundraising is never easy but we take each day as it comes and our reward is knowing that we are providing a sense of self-worth to our knitters and comfort to impoverished children around the world.

Thank you Elaine for this amazing story.  All of you are a blessing to KAS and your community.  If you are based in a location that can utilize EasyFundraising, please use it to support Knit for Life and KAS.

February 2017 Meet the KAS Family - Ronda Lowrie, South Africa http://forum.knit-a-square.com/forum/topics/meet-the-kas-family

March 2017 Meet the KAS Family - Juli Harrington, Japan http://forum.knit-a-square.com/forum/topics/meet-the-kas-family-march-2017