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Knitting has Altered their Lives

Knitting produced by the Ad 120's ESRA knitters

How do you begin to describe that warm glow in the pit of your stomach when you feel that you are doing the right thing; that you have achieved what you wanted from the beginning and you realize that what you started as a small project has become massive? A small knitting factory has been created.

ESRA Rishon Lezion's knitters were invited to Ad 120 Senior Residence Living for a coffee morning. On arrival, we found the Ad 120 knitters sitting at a long table in the lobby, and in front of them, an array of amazingly bright colored sweaters arranged in an artistic fashion.

Shining, smiling faces were waiting for us and after the warmest of greetings, an envelope was presented containing a large sum of money, collected by the residents to buy wool for them to continue knitting!

Refreshments were served and we had time to mingle with the residents.

One elderly lady I spoke to told me she had been living at the Residence for six months and when she came she went into depression. She is totally deaf and could not join any activities as she could not hear anything. She said that she went to gym classes as she could watch the others and copy them. One day, a lady took her by the arm and led her to where the knitters were. She said that joining the ESRA /Ad 120 knitting group had literally saved her life.

Another elderly lady I met told me she comes from Rehovot on the bus, because she is not a resident, and she joins the group for coffee every ten days, bringing with her 3-4 large sized hand knitted sweaters. She must have the knitting needles attached to her hands. Very special devotion.

Ad 120's ESRA knitting group was started by Lorna Toube and Shirley Frenkel. No one imagined what it would do for the residents, how the knitting would change their lives, would allow ESRA to distribute this year nearly 500 sweaters to various groups of Rishon children at high risk, children of battered women at a hostel, or children of families whose homes were burnt down in the terrible fires last winter.v 

 

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Friday, 29 March 2024

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