The June 2013 Square Heart Award goes to:

 

Elaine Jones of Shrewsbury UK, member since May 2009

AND

Pam Johnson of Shropshire UK, member since June 2009

 

Pam and Elaine are a great team, doing an amazing job at raising funds and spreading the word about KAS in their area.

 

Way back in 2009, Pam was fundraising for KAS. Then she met Elaine and they started Knit for Life, as a charity in the UK, to raise funds to send squares,etc to South Africa.

 

 

Pam will pop out to the shops for five minutes and on return finds a large bag of squares awaiting her! She was so successful in spreading-the-word in her area she received a continual supply of squares - however, in her enthusiasm Pam forgot to mention the postage costs! A friend kindly gave her a caravan in which the squares and other goodies are stored! Now she and Elaine spend time raising postage funds. In March they had a successful Tombola stall at Yours Live, and last December they recruited a team to help as 'bag packers' at the Sainsburys Supermarket in Oswestry and raised £350 towards the cost of sending more squares to South Africa.

Pam at the Tombola

Elaine researched the rules of setting up a charity in the UK which has resulted in Knit for Life which also supports knitting for local hospitals etc. The vast majority of their funds goes towards postage to South Africa. In addition, each time the girls send a consignment to Ronda, they send £50 direct to help her with the handling costs!

Two slipovers by Elaine

A big thanks for Pam and Elaine for everything they do for KAS!!!

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Replies

  • Sorry I'm so late in congratulating the two of you. I feel really bad because you're Shropshireites and I spent a very happy childhood in Jackfield. You're doing a remarkable job. Elaine's slipovers are a constant inspiration for me. I love making them.

    Once more, my congratulations and pleas for forgiveness for my tardiness.

    XXX

  • Well I think that you  both deserve a medal - an inspiration to us all and great motivators!  Thanks for all that you do for KAS. 

    • As the month draws to a close I just wanted to say thank you again for this award.  It is very special but it cannot beat the feeling of being part of something as special as KAS.  All of the news from Ronda this month has been so heartening.  I truly feel that KAS is so very special in the way that we all interact on the forum and feel so connected to what we do by Ronda's terrific feedback.  You cannot beat direct action for feeling a strong connection to what you do and what we all achieve as a group - which is amazing.

      From single stitches we are all really making a difference - well done KAS  - may we grow ever stronger.

  • You are an inspiration! Congratulations :)

  • HUGE congratulation Pam and Elaine - so well deserved - you work sooooooo hard and are always so encouraging - well done both xx

  • What great people to receive this award!!  You do SO very much for KAS and are such an inspiration to all of us.  Your hearts just have to be HUGE, and I am so very grateful to you both for that.  Two more wonderful folks who I love feeling related to in KAS.  Congratulation, ladies!  Good work!

  • Congratulations Pam and Elaine!

  • I have got my voice back now!  Thank you all so much - KAS has brought friendship to me and Elaine and we so enjoy meeting up and sorting out the knitting and doing the fundraising.  It is great to do it together and I hope as membership grows in the UK that there may form  KAS hubs of people who can support each other.  Here in Shropshire we are supported by so many people - friends Ian & Rosemary have lent me their static caravan where all the knitting is stored until we can ship it;  Richard,  a local church member and the most wonderful man - he supports a team of knitters, gets wool from me, sews in all the loose ends on squares, and organises collections of knitting from our other knitters in the area,  Our local Sainsbury's supermarket staff are all knitting and in total there are at least 60 people knitting in our area - Elaine and I are just the public "face" of all these wonderful UK KAS supporters.

    With the successful recruitment of knitters comes the task of funding the shipping.  The other "J" -  Christine Johnson in the UK knows this all too well!  Hence the formation of Knit for Life as a charity in the UK.  We could not name it KAS UK for all sorts of reasons but this is in the main what it is.

    We support other charities with the knitting that we get that is unsuitable for shipping to Ronda - prem baby stuff, big toys etc but our main aim is to fund the shipping of knitting to Ronda and to help with the cost of the fuel for her distributions.

    The biggest benefit of being a UK charity is that in the UK we can claim "Gift Aid" on donations.  This means that the UK government gives back to the charity the tax that people pay on their donations - so for every donation we get another 20% on top from the government if the person donating is a tax payer.  Elaine is the wonderful person who does the accounts and claims the Gift Aid and keeps us straight - I just play about with the knitting! :-)

    It has been said many times before but there is something very special about KAS.  The fact that it is Direct Aid - straight to where it is needed - and that we see photos of our work actually reaching SA - make it all very special and personal.I am honoured to be part of such a great group - and  I know Elaine feels the same.

    Thank you all - and let's hope that 2013 sees KAS grow even more.

    • Congratulations to you, Pam and Elaine!  I always follow what you do at Yours Live.  Getting the KAS word out to so many and then having more people involved locally, is a great achievement for you.  Thank you for your enthusiasm. 

  • Congratulations Pam and Elaine... your enthusiasm is contagious and you both do so much for KAS... well done.

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