Kids Knit Pieces of Change
Teaching social awareness is just elementary. At least that’s what the kids at Westwood Elementary (Friendswood ISD) are experiencing thanks to an innovative counselor and a third grader yearning to knit. Barbara Gruener,
Westwood counselor and character coach, believes that kids should be engaged on a personal and long-term level in a project of service. She was looking for one that went beyond the “bring in a can of corn for the homeless” kind when she crossed paths with the mother of a Westwood student who happened to mention that her daughter wanted to learn to knit. Coincidentally, Gruener knows how to knit, and began to research service projects that involved knitting.
Casting for a new project
Googling around led Gruener to the site of Warm Up America!, a group started in Wisconsin that organizes volunteers to knit or crochet small sections, then join them together to create afghans, caps and other items to distribute to tens of thousands of people. “We came up with a plan to start teaching our third graders to knit,” Gruener says. With help from other teachers and parent volunteers, Gruener got to work with about 20 third graders in the school library. “Warm Up America! showed how knitted patches could be sewn together to make a whole blanket,” she says. “I loved the teamwork of it, and I loved that we were learning a new skill together. Our first blanket was made seven years ago. It was a red, white and blue patriotic blanket for July Fourth, and we donated it locally.” Since then the group has grown from 20 to about 80 and the knitters have moved to a larger space in the cafeteria. “The first year, we made three blankets, and had a large group of boys who were ready to get out those knitting needles!” Westwood donates approximately 300 knitted items per year to Warm Up America! with much more donated from around the community.
A call on Congress caps it off
After three years of happily knitting away, the school received a call from Warm Up America!. “Someone from the organization asked if we would like to knit hats for their program, ‘Caps to the Capital,’” Gruener says. The caps go to preemies born in developing countries. It’s a life-saving measure and part of a program initiated by Save the Children’s “Survive to Five” program.“ Someone from Save the Children came to our school to talk to the kids about all the babies that die before they turn five, and why it’s so important to help. They explained that newborns often die simply because their heads are cold. Millions of babies don’t survive to age five, and a lot of them don’t even survive past the first day after birth.” Writing letters to elected officials and even the President is a special part of this campaign. “The kids wrote letters to the President saying that they had knitted caps for newborn babies in a third world country and asking what the President has done for them,” Gruener says. “They also wrote a little message, intended for the mother and baby who would receive the cap they knitted.” The messages say something like, This cap was knitted for your baby with love, and the student puts his or her name on it. Three years ago, Gruener’sknitters were invited to the White House to present caps to the Capital. “In 2007, we went to Washington D.C. with one of our knitters, Elizabeth Warwick, and a message asking Congress to help reduce the infant mortality rate in the third world.” The visit to Congress included meetings with Texas representatives and senators passionate about this cause, and culminated in a trip to the White House. “We got to meet Mrs. Bush’s Chief of Staff in her office, and Elizabeth left one of her caps for the First Lady. When asked how she felt about giving the First Lady one of her own caps, Elizabeth said she thought it was fine, but she had really knitted that cap for a baby. “That’s when we knew she really understood what this project was all about – helping babies,” says Gruener. “She didn’t do it for the thrill of giving something to the First Lady. Itwas all about the baby.”
A clique in the community
Holding his ball of red yarn and knitting needles, third grader Christopher Hoskins says no one gives him a hard time about being a boy who knits. “I thought it would be fun to learn to knit so I could make scarves and caps for others,” he says. “Last year I made one cap for a baby and I still like doing it.” Adult volunteers help get this message of service across to the kids. “We have a lot of grandparents come and help teach the kids; it breaks down some generational stereotypes,” Gruener says. “Everyone can sit together, clicking away with those knitting needles. It doesn’t matter how old you are, you can do this for a baby.” This year, Westwood’s preschool speech pathologist, Sandra Miller, took over the knitting club. “We’ve just returned from another trip to Washington to lobby for more funds for Save the Children,” she says. “One of our knitters, Hannah Rickard, went along with us. She’s made 12 caps this year and is so proud of what she’s done.” Hannah says she had a lot of fun in Washington. “I met a doctor from Bangladesh who said that she would take one of my caps and deliver it herself to a baby when she went back. I know it’s making a difference in the world,” Hannah says. It’s also making a difference in our community. “People hear about us and volunteer,” says Sandra. “We’ve had calls from retirement homes and have a wonderful man who has serious burns on his hands and uses knitting as occupational therapy. He just came to help and has gotten the kids involved in local service projects involving knitting.”Last year, the school received the recognition it deserves for all this knitting. Westwood Elementary was awarded the honorary title, “National Schoolof Character,” for knitting about 325 caps and blankets for children around the world.
Purls of wisdom
Westwood’s third graders who learned to knit, stitch by painstaking stitch, have now become fourth graders. Knitting blankets and caps for babies born in faraway lands has changed them in many ways. “Knitting is slow and it can be frustrating,” Gruener says. “Sometimes you have to have a lot of patience. Sometimes you drop your stitches or you work on your blanket for a while and it falls apart and you have to start all over again. You have to switch needles several times until you find the one that works. It has taught the kids aboutperseverance.” Both Gruener and Miller believe that one of the most important lessons the kids learn is about taking ownership of what they’re doing. As their knitting needles click, the kids form their own “clique”– and realize the power they have to change the world. They can’t do it overnight, but they can start making a difference, one click at a time.