MKG Service Committee's 2006 Annual Report

MKG Service Committee's 2006 Annual Report

 
Written by Yvonne Eyer and Shirley Ungar

from MKG Cable Gram, Volume 23, Number 1

The purpose of the Minnesota Knitters' Guild Service Committee is to distribute yarns and supplies to groups and organizations that knit for charity, or that promote and teach knitting. This past year (2006) is the first year we have had an allotted budget, but we also get our funds and materials from donations.

We sort the donations we receive and give them to organizations we know can use them. Donated yarn and needles have been used for MKG teaching opportunities at Shepherd's Harvest, the Minnesota State Fair, Knit Out 2006, and the Textile Center. In 2006, we also continued to support the Children's Home Society, the Minnesota Visiting Nurse Agency, and the women's prison in Shakopee. A new donation in 2006 was $100 to Sandstone State Prison, which they used to buy yarn to make helmet liners for our troops.

Many of the organizations we support want light-colored acrylic yarns, and Shakopee wants plastic needles, so items that are not suitable for these groups are offered for sale to Guild members. We use the money we take in from these sales to purchase yarn for donations. The yarn we can't sell, we give to Mary Lou's Yarn Shop in St. Peter, Minn., who gives us a per-pound credit towards yarn purchases. (We had no yarn to exchange this year.)

In 2006 we donated a total of 57 pounds of yarn and 6 pair of needles, which went to the following agencies:

  • Shakopee Prison: Six pounds of yarn and six pairs of needles
  • Minnesota Visiting Nurse Agency: 10 pounds of yarn
  • Children's Home Society: 36 pounds of yarn
  • Sandstone State Prison: Five pounds of yarn

We had fewer donations this year, partly because the women who used to knit baby blankets for the Visiting Nurse Agency no longer knit for them. The yarn donations that the Guild received this year were used for teaching events in which the Guild participated.

The Guild as a whole participated in quarterly service projects, with many items donated to various organizations. Thank you, MKG members!

Yvonee Eyer and Shirley Ungar run MKG's service committee.