A couple of months ago, a friend and mother of one of my daughter's friends, called and asked if Tamara would like to join Amanda and Abby in working on their Bronze Award for Girl Scouts. She was eager to do it and a date was set to get the girls together for their first meeting to decide the project. They were already way behind as they should have begun work on it several months earlier but it had slipped through the cracks.
In preparation for the first meeting, each girl was to come up with some ideas for projects. I had run across KAS several months earlier and thought it was pretty cool. I had recently joined Ravelry and had seen it mentioned again, so I told Tamara about it. She is adopted and loved the idea of helping kids that didn't have parents. At the meeting, each girl had to present her ideas and, at first, each one stuck to their own with no compromise in sight. The moms finally had them explain why they wanted to do their particular project and each one did a great job with that. Abby's project was similar in nature so she was the first one Tamara won over. Then, Amanda came along. As the three girls planned their project, they decided to invite another girl from the troop to join them, so Kathryn became a part of the team.
Their goal was to collect 200 squares.
The girls got together and decorated boxes with wrapping paper and signs to receive donations of squares and yarn. Tamara and Amanda attend the same church and Abby and Kathryn attend another. With permission, they placed the boxes in their churches and began to share with people what it was all about. They had a copy of the Knit-A-Squillion challenge to help them in explaining. They especially approached people that they already knew either knit or crochet and got commitments from them to help and the squares began to come in.
These four girls also planned a Knit and Crochet Party which was held at Kathryn and Abby's church. I'm not sure how many attended, but there were quite a few... parents, grandparents, troop leaders, other troop members, and friends, all busily making squares or learning how to either knit or crochet so they could make squares. A few things that were originally planned didn't happen because of the short time frame in which they had to work.
The plan was to get the squares in the mail in mid-April, but they didn't make it until just a day or two ago. Altogether, 175 squares were collected along with several skeins of yarn and more squares are still being made. With so many squares to be sent, postage had become a big concern for us moms! But Sheri, the troop leader, said the troop usually donates money toward these projects and the postage would be their contribution. That was a huge relief as the total postage came to $102! We hope the squares make it okay! There are also about half a dozen skeins of yarn. Some of the squares didn't have tails left on them, so extra yarn will be needed to sew them together.
Today, May 5, 2012, 4 moms, a dad, and a grandma (who contributed a lot of squares) proudly watched as Tamara, Amanda, Kathryn, and Abby received their Bronze Awards. We are all proud of what these girls did and how much they were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. I'm going to try to attach some pictures.
Replies
What a wonderful effort - well done to Abby, Tamara, Amanda and Kathryn and all their helpers and thank you to Betty for bringing this lovely story to our attention. It's such a blessing to see children working to help their age contemporaries in other parts of the world. Knit-a-Square truly treasures that caring attitude and we very much look forward to receiving this generous contribution of squares which will soon be warming a group of small children ! It is FREEZING in Johannesburg as I write ... winter has arrived and we are already busy at work !! Our thanks and God's blessings to you all.
Thanks, Ronda! I pray those squares arrive very soon so some more children can be warm!
Unfortunately Betty it is unlikely that the squares will arrive in time for the ceremony. However, as this is such a special case I'll mention it to Ronda in South Africa. A monthly list is posted on the link below :
http://www.knit-a-square.com/squares.html
That monthly list is fantastic! I can't believe how many squares some have sent. That is awesome! It would be great if those that send so many would share tips about how they package them and what their shipping costs are.
We knew it would take a long time to get the squares over there. Thanks for all your help. We will definitely celebrate when we know they have arrived!
This is fantastic, please thank the lovely girls from us Betty. Just brilliant!
Thanks to everyone for your kind responses! We are definitely very proud of these girls and are pleased to be a part of such an awesome project. I plan to print the responses to read at the troop awards ceremony on May 31. They are planning a special recognition of these four girls, as I understand it.
I'm wondering if we can be notified when the package arrives. I don't know exactly how all this works, but if it should happen to arrive before the ceremony, it would be awesome to be able to share that. Here on the forums would be fine. There is a letter inside from the girls and it includes contact info for one of the other moms, so letting her know would be okay, too. It was sent the cheapest way possible, so I have no idea how long it will take to get there.
What an awesome project!!! They should all be QUITE proud of themselves!!!!!
This is a greatly heartwarming story Betty, thank you so much for taking the time to share it with us. Please will you thank the girls for their efforts and congratulate them on winning their Bronze Awards too on behalf of all of us at KasCare and KasSA and the whole KasCommunity. We are inspired by examples like this and hope that it will inspire others similarly.
What a wonderful achievement, Betty. Congratulations to all the girls for their organisation of events and for 'spreading the word'.
175 squares is an amazing amount and the girls obviously inspired and touched the hearts of many to receive such a bounty.
Well done to you all. xo
Wow, how wonderful! I too am a girl guide leader so I know how much effort these things take for the girl, the leaders, the parents and everyone else. Congratulations :)
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