Sometimes it’s the little things that make the biggest difference.
A few years ago, Mary Conquest learned that her then three-year-old daughter would need open heart surgery.
“I was walking out of the hospital with her, having heard this news, trying very hard not to cry, and a woman at the information desk leaned out and gave us a little knit doll,” the North Vancouver resident recalls.
Crafted by a hospital volunteer, the small token was just what she needed in that moment.
“I know personally how much a handmade item can mean to someone at a difficult time.”
Today, Conquest is paying it forward, knitting hats and mittens for Syrian refugees arriving in B.C. And she’s inviting other crafters to join her. In late November, she started Warm Welcome, a campaign to make and donate cosy accessories to refugees landing at YVR during the chilly winter months. It’s a project she pitched to the Syrian Canadian Council of B.C. before launching to make sure her efforts would be useful.
“I got an enthusiastic yes,” she says.
She spread the word via her social networks, including an online knitting and crochet community called Ravelry, and crafters soon began dropping off handmade items at her home or sending them in the mail.
“I’ve received toques, I’ve received headbands, one gorgeous shawl – all of which we’re receiving with gratitude and I’m sure will be welcomed.”
The goal is for people to knit, crochet or sew 100 adult toques, 100 children’s toques and 100 pairs of children’s mittens. As a finishing touch, contributors are asked to attach a short handwritten message to each garment that says “Welcome to Canada,” or something similar.
“Just something warm and simple,” Conquest says.
She’s already handed a bunch of items over to the Syrian Canadian Council of B.C. which have been given out to refugees in welcome packages. A representative with the council sent her a photograph of an 18-month-old boy receiving his new handmade toque at the airport.
“That was very sweet. I cried.”
Welcoming newcomers from war-torn Syria with a hat or mitts is a small gesture, but it’s one that she believes can make a positive difference.
“We’ve all seen the horrors that many of the refugees have been through. They’ve left everything that’s familiar to them and just imagine arriving in a country where nothing, not even the language, is familiar,” she says. “I thought this was just a simple, tangible way to help.”
The federal government is aiming to bring 10,000 Syrian refugees to Canada – including both government-sponsored and privately sponsored refugees – by the end of the year, with another 15,000 arriving by the end of February 2016. With a portion of those expected to settle in B.C., Conquest plans to continue her Warm Welcome campaign until the need is met.
“I would love to be able to say that we’ve handed out at least one item to every family, if not every person, that’s come through,” she says. “Both knitters and Canadians are, in general, generous groups.”
For more information about Warm Welcome, and for links to free knitting patterns, visit maryconquest.wix.com/warm-welcome.
