SPOTSWOOD With crochet needles, bundles of yarn and plastic bags, the Spotswood Office on Aging and Center’s “Stitch In Time” group creates items for various charities.
“In addition to working on personal projects, we also do some charity work. Last year we started a campaign to collect used plastic shopping bags that we would use to crochet sleeping mats for the homeless. This fall/winter, we’ve been making hats and scarves that are being distributed through the CUP Pantry in Spotswood,” Diane Charlesworth said. “In honor of the granddaughter of one of our members, some of us are participating in the red hat campaign being conducted by the American Heart Association to make red hats for babies born with congenital heart defects.”
While participating in the campaign to make sleeping mats for the homeless with plastic shopping bags, Charlesworth said, “The generous owners of Brian’s Lawn Mower Service, Bill and Sue Engstrom, volunteered to be a collection center for bag donations. They rock. It takes between 600 to 700 bags to crochet one mat. We’ve been fortunate to be able to distribute the mats through the Rescue Mission of Trenton, as well as some homeless shelters in the Jersey City area.”
Charlesworth said that the group also participated in the New Jersey American Legion’s “Stand Down” event last May in Atlantic City.
“Our mats were given to homeless vets along with all the other supplies that the American Legion had amassed for the vets. That was a huge honor that we will be repeating this May,” Charlesworth said.
According to Charlesworth, the group first met on April 9, 2015, at the Spotswood Public Library.
“I decided to start the group, because I was recently retired and needed to make some friends in town,” she said.
When the group first started it had eight to 10 members and some of the women didn’t know how to knit or crochet, so she had to teach them, according to Charlesworth.
“Within a few short months, those beginners were making quality items for their families and themselves. In a very short time, our group grew so large that we had to move to temporary quarters in the Sunday school building of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Spotswood,” Charlesworth said. “We were very lucky when we had the opportunity to move to the senior center, because the building access is convenient for all of our members, not to mention the welcome reception we were given by the staff. They helped make the transition a very smooth operation.”
The group meets almost every Thursday from 1-3 p.m. at the Spotswood Office on Aging and Senior Center, located at 1 Arlington Ave., Suite 401.
Anyone can join the group and attendees should bring their own supplies. Also, if an participant does not know how to knit or crochet, the group has several qualified members who are happy to share their knowledge, according to Charlesworth.
“Our attitude is very casual. I only have one rule: when you come to a meeting, be ready to have some fun,” she said. “We’re 20 women who all like each other. We work on our projects and share the stories of our lives. The sense of community and camaraderie is so wonderful.”
For more information or to donate yarn, visit www.spotswoodboro.com/officeonagingpage30.html.
Contact Vashti Harris at vharris@newspapermediagroup.com.
