Possibly one of the most fulfilling activities one can engage in is doing something to help others. So when Clark County seniors got together to form a knitting group, something special was bound to happen.
Three years ago, Blocks for Blankets started crocheting and knitting blankets, hats and scarves. This was inspired by Linda Deaton, who had just seen a homeless man in a doorway, asleep and cold. She was driving in her warm car to her warm home and “thought, certainly there’s something [United Senior Services of Springfield] can do.”
Today, Blocks for Blankets has around 20 seniors working for months so as to produce enough warm items for such individuals for the winter. They start meeting in April and then, throughout the winter months, just keep on crocheting and knitting.
And it’s great for them too. One knitter, Isabelle Thomas said that “the project helps her more than the people who receive the blankets and hats,” since while she is engaged in the project she knows she is doing good by helping someone keep warm. Following the death of her husband three years earlier, upon the doctor’s advice, she knew she had to find something to do. And given that she had always enjoyed knitting, this was a perfect solution.
This year the group knitted and crocheted 428 blankets and 264 hats.
