Lion Brand Notebook ®
Our company is very passionate about giving back to the community. We support Warm Up America, as well as other charities that accept donations of garments and afghans made with yarn. I also enjoy hearing about the charitable things our customers do with Lion Brand Yarn. Recently, I heard of the Water with Blessing program run by the Little Sisters of the Poor. Their mission is to “continue the work of St. Jeanne Jugan, to offer the neediest elderly of every race and religion a home where they will be welcomed”. That alone could be quite the undertaking but on a trip to Central America they were faced with another obstacle for the poor, no clean drinking water. After establishing the need, they created an interfaith initiative to bring water filtration systems to those who needed them throughout the world. In their own words, “state of the art technology deserves a state of the heart program” which led a global community of over 12,000 Mothers in over 30 countries.
What really caught my eye here was what they did after they installed these fragile filtration systems. Mothers started to crochet bright “socks” or “jackets” to cover and protect the ceramic units. They are the size and shape of empty toilet paper rolls with a bottle cap sized opening at one end. Little Sisters, residents and volunteers have crocheted thousands of these socks for donation. Women who have never crocheted before were eager to take on the challenge of learning how for such a worthy cause.
I was so moved by this story I sent Sister Mary Alphonsus of the Little Sister of the Poor of St. Paul a yarn donation. Thank you Sisters, for the work that you do and the crucial service you provide for so many!
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Linlal
It’s great to see a program that actually goes to communities to see what’s needed by the people there and is responding in a practical way.
Julie Willis
What a wonderful story!
Stephanie Kornexl
Hello Jack, and THANK YOU for sharing about our organization! Since you posted we have received an overwhelming number of requests for filter sock patterns from people who want to help…what an incredible blessing! We couldn’t be more grateful to you for shining a spotlight on our need. We have 45,000 mothers filtering water in 40 developing countries worldwide, and so our need for filter socks is always growing with our mission. Just want to make one small clarification: we were actually founded by three individuals (including our current Executive Director, Sister Larraine Lauter, OSU) who were responding to a need they saw for clean water in Honduras while on a medical mission over 10 years ago. Since then our organization has grown tremendously thanks to God’s blessing, and with the help of many supporters, including the Little Sisters of the Poor who are huge advocates of God’s thirsty children. We LOVE them and all our filter sock volunteers! The filter socks are more than protective covers, they are a gesture of love and support to the mothers who receive them. Thank you again and blessings on you and all the Lion Brand fans who have responded with such generosity! -Stephanie Kornexl, Water With Blessings, Partnership Lead stephanie@waterwithblessings.org
Me
Need to post patterns for these water filter socks !
I teach knit and crochet classes this would be great for my students.
Stephanie Kornexl
Thank you! We’d love your support. You can find the patterns here on our website for download: http://www.waterwithblessings.org/crochet-for-a-cause.html