Members of SedonaKind lived up to their organization’s name and in the process are helping to spread a little joy this holiday season.
“As we came into the schools, we could see there were a lot of kids showing up without hats, coats and gloves,” Pam Hollenbach said. “For two years we delivered knitted hats to West Sedona School. This year I put a challenge out to the knitters to see if we could cover all the elementary schools.”
The challenge was accepted. In all, more than 800 caps of varying colors and styles were knitted and will be distributed to students at West Sedona School, Oak Creek Elementary School and Sedona Charter School.
Marcia Conley, who recently moved to Sedona, personally knitted 100 caps — each taking five to six hours to complete.
“I love the creativity,” she said. “I moved here and needed a purpose and I felt this was the perfect opportunity. I set the goal of 100 and it was close at the end. The needles were flying to get them done.”
The hats will be distributed to Oak Creek Elementary School on Nov. 22 and West Sedona School and Sedona Charter School on Dec. 6. When the hats are handed out to the kids, each student gets to pick their own.
“It’s amazing how they pick something out that matches their personality,” Hollenbach said, adding that all the yarn for the hats was donated by the community.
She added that last year there was a young boy who would wear his knitted hat often to school. One day he didn’t and the teacher asked him why. He said it was his brother’s day to wear it.
“I’d really like to be able to send hats home with some of the children for their siblings,” she said. “We do leave extra caps for any student who may have been absent that day. The good thing about knitted caps is that everyone can wear them and they’re not size specific.”
In all about a dozen women helped with the knitting — some just a few while others dropped off dozens. Katie Hamilton completed 192 caps, many of which were done while she and her husband drove to Alaska.
As for what they personally get from taking on a project like this, they all said it’s the desire to help others.
“It feels good and I love to give back to others,” Hamilton said. “I can be creative with all the different colors but most of all is because it’s a good cause.”
Conley said, “For me, when knitting I imagine the child receiving it and the smile on their face.”
Hollenbach added, “I see the need at the schools. Sedona is a fairly wealthy community but there are students at the schools who are struggling. So anything as a community that we can do, should be done.”
