Roberta's beautiful rugs and Olive's teddy bear

When I retired eight years ago at age seventy-five I joined the Raanana Knitting Group – a wonderful group headed by our ‘guardian angel’ Wendy Goldstein, who buys the wool and is always on hand to help anyone who needs it.

Members are 65+ and everything that is made is donated to charity. The items – hats, bootees, blankets, scarves, sweaters – are distributed to hospitals and kindergartens and to children and elderly people in need.

I volunteered to take the knitted goods to Shneider Hospital where my daughter is a nurse, which I have been doing for more than four years. This year I have taken over 1,000 items:  50 hats to the oncology department every week, 20 to 30 items to ‘preemies’ and pediatric intensive care ward and pediatric diabetics.

This year we were asked to make hats for the army and have sent over 120.

We have an excellent group of ladies who sit together and knit every week and finish the items at home. We have some knitters, such as Vivien from Beth Protea, who makes us 24 pairs of bootees a week. We also have ladies from abroad:  Elaine from Melbourne who sent, via her daughter, 55 hand-knitted dolls dressed in beautiful outfits which will be sent to Bet Shivtei Levi in Haifa, a home for children at risk; Sharon from Chicago who brings scarves and blankets which are given to children and the elderly; Rosie from Finland who brings blankets and small items that she knitted. All of them join us when they are here.

I am very proud to be a member of the Raanana Knitting Group.