Children Knitting for Charity
If you think you can be too young to knit, check out these third graders knitting for charity
If you're visiting this site, you're probably interested in knitting for charity. And if you're a charitable knitter, you probably have a vested interest in charities: what they need, how they get it, and who supplies them.
But the simple fact is that most charities start with a single person deciding to take a small step forward. For example, Free The Children started when twelve year old Craig Kielburger heard about children who had to work instead of going to school. He held a garage sale, donated the proceeds, and now, a decade later, Free The Children has built hundreds of schools in third world countries.
Knitting a single scarf might not seem to make a difference in many lives, but you never know where it may lead
Just ask Pat Prussing, the third grade teacher who heard a radio report about how many infants in developing countries die within twenty four hours -- all because they don't have any way to keep their heads warm. Prussing didn't stop at just wanting to make a difference, though. She took her classroom of third grade students and put them to work knitting for charity.
Prussing used rings to teach her students to knit. Those students created thirty hats for children in developing nations and sent them, along with a letter asking for increased funding for healthcare, to President Bush.
A Lasting Impact
Prussing took this small step more than a year ago, so why bring it up now? For two reasons. One, her decision shows us that you're never too small to make a difference -- even if you're so small you're only in grade three.
And two, she demonstrates how knitting for charity can have a huge impact on the lives of others. If those thirty hats save thirty lives, what an accomplishment it will be for that third grade class. How many children can say with complete sincerity that they've saved someone else's life?
A Little Does Mean a Lot
If everyone in the United States saved a single life in a developing nation, that would be a lot of lives saved. It doesn't matter how you save them, only that you act. And as Pat Prussing demonstrates, knitting for charity can help you take that step.