Calling all knit-wits!

Don’t you just love winter? Showing off the season’s snug new woollies, shorter days, warm dinners to come home to and long nights in warm cosy beds…

Well, that might be winter for you. But for millions of homeless and the needy in the world and in Australia who die of cold, trauma and hypothermia every year, winter is not something to look forward to. With little or no food and often no shelter to spend the night in let alone a toasty wrap to cuddle in, it spells a time of doom and gloom.

And tucked up in our centrally-heated homes, how many times do we spare a thought for those less fortunate than us?

Not often enough, that’s for sure.

But this year the Sydney-based Indian organisation Syd-Kol, in collaboration with charities like Care for Street Kids Australia and Wrap With Love, is leading a drive to get volunteers and community members to knit, craft, crochet or weave woollen wraps or garments for the disadvantaged.

“One woollen garment or sweater a day” is the slogan for this year’s campaign which runs from 10 June to 10 July.

Speaking about her involvement in the woollen garment charity drive, Madhu Sen of Syd-Kol Inc told Indian Link, “Knitting is something I have been doing as a hobby for a long time but this year I decided I wanted to donate everything I created. So I rallied all my friends and got in touch with ‘Wrap with Love’ and ‘Care for Street Kids’ charity organisations to inquire if Syd-Kol could help with their yearly collections. They were happy for us to get involved and allowed us to use their campaign slogan.”

Syd-Kol is a registered not-for-profit charity group operating in Australia since 2008. The main objective of this 11-member outfit is to bring about cultural exchanges between India and Australia and to involve Indo-Australian intellectuals into dissipating the dissimilarities between the two cultures that exist in the form of language, food and social characteristics, by embracing the differences and bringing the rich heritages of the two countries closer. In doing so Syd-Kol endeavours to raise funds for charity organisations dedicated to helping the youth and the underprivileged children. A team of volunteers also engages in seeking financial assistance from businesses from time to time to assist the charities Syd-Kol supports.

NSW has a lot of charity organisations and every winter there is a drive to encourage people to come forward and donate their time and skills by making woollen items for the needy. Last year alone Wrap With Love collected and distributed 32,000 items to people in Australia and around the world.

“These organisations are listed with government agencies to be approached when the need arises for supplies like blankets and woollen items in the country or elsewhere. So the items collected this year won’t necessarily be donated immediately but will be kept as a reserve for when needed,” expanded Madhu. “Some items will also be sent to Mother Teresa’s Nirmala Bhavan in India during the month of December which is the start of winter there.”

“This initiative serves several purposes”, added Madhu, “Firstly it helps those who need assistance, secondly it gives a chance to those who stay at home or the elderly to do something for the community; it is environmentally friendly and it has also been proven that hobbies like knitting can combat obesity.”

Everybody can be a part of the campaign by either knitting a whole wrap which is 28 squares, each square measuring 10 x 10 inches, or by contributing as many individual squares as they can. If you can’t knit, you can either donate wool or avail of this opportunity to learn from Madhu. She to medium level care packages aimed at enhancing independence amongst seniors, and those who require these services but do not qualify for government funding can contact Sri Om Care to avail of help at low costs.

The fundraiser generated a substantial amount of money which according to Jay, “...will be put towards this new service and eventually paid back to the seniors.”

In the course of the evening Surinder Jain, Director and Treasurer, explained to the community how the donated money would be used and how government initiatives were being used and adopted in managing Sri Om Care. To learn more, visit www.sriomcare.org.au

Farzana Shakir

has graciously offered to show the ropes to those who want to learn, on the weekends.

“Apart from the knitting drive, SydKol has been active in other fundraising efforts this year, including organising a drama in Calcutta in January. The proceeds from that were distributed between the Ramkrishna Mission of India and the Royal Institute of Blind and Deaf Children of Australia. Next on the calendar is a fundraising performing arts program to be hosted in Melbourne in October.” Madhu highlighted.

“The reason why we are not accepting monetary donations is because we want the people to show love and compassion by donating their time. Syd-Kol aims to collect about 50 items this year as it is the first time we are participating and the response so far is rather slow but as the word gets around we hope we will be able to make a greater contribution from next year,” she said appealing to everyone to get involved.

So put your creative coats on, pull out those needles and yarns, dust your sewing machines and get to work.

And as you sew, you shall reap the rewards of self gratification, compassion and humility. You will glow for months afterwards, with the thought of having done something good. Each night you sleep in your warm wrap you’ll be able to doze off easy knowing you’ve provided the same warmth for at least one person who badly needed it.

Farzana Shakir