When Karen King and three friends retired a few years ago, they started getting together to make mittens for people they knew. Now they have formed a group, 4Friends Plus, to sell the mittens and donate the proceeds to Community Living, Sarnia-Lambton.iStockphoto/Getty Images/iStockphoto
The gift: Creating 4Friends Plus
The cause: Community Living, Sarnia-Lambton
When Karen King and three friends retired a few years ago, they started getting together to make mittens for people they knew.
"We just enjoyed each other's company," Ms. King recalled from her home in Sarnia, Ont. "There was great camaraderie."
The group soon added a couple more friends and it now consists of Ms. King, Laurie Hardy, Wilma Maher, Arlene Duckert, Marion Burr and Shirley Vanderwielen. In 2013, they decided to turn their attention toward raising money for charity.
Several members of what they dubbed 4Friends Plus had connections to Community Living Sarnia-Lambton and they soon began selling mittens for the organization.
They don't knit mittens, but buy old sweaters and refashion them into mitts. One pair can take about an hour to make and sells for $25, with proceeds going to Community Living, which supports people with developmental disabilities. So far, they have raised $10,000 which helped the organization buy a new van. 4 Friends Plus is now raising money for a second van.
Ms. Hardy said the women were overjoyed and overwhelmed when they discovered their fundraising helped buy the van. "Who would have thought mittens could do this," she said.
Paul Waldie