Students at Holy Trinity and St. John Catholic schools are about to ‘spread the love’ for those in need this February.
As part of their social justice initiative, students have been putting their knitting skills to the test crafting hats, scarves and blankets for various local community organizations.
So far, over 150 items have been made and will be donated next month.
“I enjoy doing this because I want to learn how to make things like this. But also, we are doing this for charity, so it’s nice to help out people who are in need,” said Eliana Correa, a Grade 7 student at Holy Trinity Catholic School.
“Winter is a very hard season. This is a good idea because the more we help people, the more they can be happy in the winter.”
Hats are being knitted for the Guelph General Hospital NIC Unit, blankets for hospice, and hats and scarves for Royal City Mission.
With a loom in-hand, Grade 8 student Matteo Solda from Holy Trinity said he didn't know how to knit before.
“We learned as a class. It’s fun and creative,” he said. “And I like to think about how this can help people’s lives.”
It first began as a project known as Healthy Heels in 2021 when St. John Grade 3 teacher, Alijha Girgis-Tweedle had two classes collect over 500 socks to donate to the homeless via Royal City MIsson.
“We started really small. And now, every year, we add something. We just had a couple looms and started with socks,” Girgis-Tweedle said.
“The Healthy Heals program turned out to be a hit because we had collected so many pairs of socks to give out to the unhoused community. So now, every year, we try to do something new."
Seeing all of the good being done, Holy Trinity Grade 8 teacher Lisa Gibson decided to get her social justice club involved too.
“Alijha is my best friend, so it’s special that we can do this together. This is our third year doing it. And every year, we do something differen,” Gibson said.
“For us, because our schools are so close, it’s easy to just walk down to St. John, get the kids working with each other, and give them that experience.”
Both teachers are overjoyed to see how their social justice clubs have spread the love through knitting, which is why they decided to host a ‘Knit Night’ in the St. John school library for anyone who would like to learn.
On Wednesday, school staff, parents and grandparents were eager to grab some needles and looms and joined in on the fun.
“We do this together but we also have a lot of people in our community who help and have connections outside, that we really rely on. The interest is there and it becomes meaningful to everyone,” Girgis-Tweedle said.
“To have something that our kids have made and hand them out to those in need, it just makes all the love go round.”
GIbson believes Knit Night is a great opportunity to bring families and students together for a good cause.
“That’s why we decided to include families because there are some who are very eager to learn. This is a perfect opportunity for them to learn from their own children or other kids who want to help,” she said.
“We are just blessed that we get to do this. Not everyone gets to work with their family and the people they love, and also get to serve others.”
Girgis-Tweedle said knitting is an easy activity that students can just pick up and run with.
"My nephew asked my mom if she could teach him how to knit, and when I saw him do it, I thought, well, maybe my kids at school can do it. It keeps their hands busy when there is some unstructured time,” Girgis-Tweedle said.
“They can do it during recess or when they finish work. The great thing about it is that they can pick it up, and put it down. There’s no clean up. They can take them home, they can sign them out. Sometimes, they come in with three hats that they've made over the weekend.”
Gibson said students are excited about their woolly creations and still have more items on the go.
“When they see what they make, they are so proud of themselves,” Gibson said.
Knit Night saw a school library filled with knitters of all ages.
“My heart today is so full. To see how much this has grown, I have not stopped smiling all day,” Girgis-Tweedle said.
“For our students to see everything that they’ve made, all combined together, it’s incredible, and there’s no stopping them.”
