One Thousand and Eight

Every few weeks Izetta gives me a call and says she has some hats ready, so I pack up a few bags of yarn that has been donated—some full skeins, some “leftovers”— and head over to her house for a nice visit and an exchange; I take her the yarn, she gives me the hats she has crocheted out of the last round of yarn to share with those in need. That day, she had close to fifty hats completed, which, incredibly, is not an unusual amount to pick up from her a time or two a month.

“It just gives me something to do,” she says. When I first started this project, I had people like her in mind; someone with ability, time, and willingness, who would benefit from the doing as much as their doing would benefit others. I just had no idea anyone would create so many beautiful things, and with such joy.

Izetta started crocheting hats for our Hugs and Kisses project about a year and a half ago in early 2017, finding a pattern she loved and going for it. It all came about by way of a few simple questions during a conversation at that time. She asked what she could do to help with The Encouragement Project, and the response back was to ask what she liked to do. “Well, I like to crochet,” she said. “Why don’t you do that, then?” And so she did.

I asked her during our last visit how many hats she had made so far, and she said, “Oh, I’ve made one thousand and eight.” That’s rather an incredible number by any standard. There are now one thousand and eight more heads that are/will be warm because of her enthusiasm and involvement. Did I mention that Izetta is almost 90 years old? 

We would love to find others like Izetta who would be willing and able to create beautiful warmth for others that can be shared in Jesus name. If you know of anyone who might enjoy such a task that helps others, please share!
While you might not have the time or energy to make such a volume as this friend, everyone can do something, and that makes a difference. Be encouraged to find that opportunity to bless others. One at a time. 

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But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,”
​so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
Hebrews 3:13