Art Not Shame will have participants in stitches during its first ever Knit-a-Thon.
The new fundraising initiative is inviting community members to knit or crochet eight by 10 inch rectangles for blankets which will be donated to the Guelph/Wellington Community Health Van for distribution. Participants will also be collecting money from family and friends, which will go to community-engaged arts programming run by Art Not Shame.
Starting Oct. 25, participants can drop off completed squares at several locations across Guelph, which will be collected and hand sewn into blankets by volunteers. The event will run until Dec. 6 and interested residents can register as individuals or as a team at Canada Helps.
Alisa McRonald, community outreach at Art Not Shame, explains no experience is required to join the Knit-a-Thon.
“They can be very simple rectangles, or if you are an advanced knitter, you can do a more advanced stitch," said McRonald, mentioning it will take 36 rectangles to make one blanket, “We have a lot of resources on the FAQ about how to knit and we are hosting two virtual knitting get-togethers in November to get that social aspect, often people get together to knit.”
When brainstorming a fundraiser idea, McRonald adds all the staff at Art Not Shame are crafters or knitters and thought it would be fun to do.
“We wanted to keep it really more arts focused and we wanted to keep it community focused and an activity people of different ages and abilities could do, so we came up with the Knit-a-Thon,” said McRonald, “We thought then we could take what people created and give back as well.”
“We hope it’s going to be a fun and different thing to do going into the holiday."
Along with having fun, McRonald mentions Art Not Shame hopes residents learn about their organization and the work that they do within the community. She adds one organization has signed up for the Knit-a-Thon, Walls to Bridges.
“They are a group of women, some are incarcerated and some are not, and they are getting together to knit a blanket for us," said McRonald about Walls to bridges, who adds the blanket will be made in the organizations colours.
“We’re hoping to get as many as we can, but it would be great to get 10 blankets together."
Those who are not interested in knitting, but would still like to make a donation, can do so here.
