North Durban residents urged to stitch for a brighter future
UWA president, Sue Davidson, said the networking group had set a target to knit 1 000 beanies by 1 June for the centre but soon expanded the challenge to include anything knitted.
THE Umhlanga Women Achievers (UWA) said it has been blown away by the support from the greater Durban community in its challenge to support The Open Door Crisis Care Centre in Pinetown.
UWA president, Sue Davidson, said the networking group had set a target to knit 1 000 beanies by 1 June for the centre but soon expanded the challenge to include anything knitted.
“Saysha Till, our UWA vice president and I have always had a passion to help Open Door because of the amazing work they do. They’ve always been our charity of choice so when we first put out the challenge, our goal was to donate 1 000 knitted beanies by the beginning of June. We then decided that it could be anything knitted because some couldn’t do beanies, so we expanded it to include blankets and booties.
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“The Covid-19 pandemic has been hard on the centre and it breaks our hearts because we know how hard Thora Mansfield, the director of Open Door works. We’ve been blown away by the support so far and feel that we could even surpass our goal with the help of the greater Durban community. The retirement villages in particular have been amazing and at the moment we are accepting donations of wool which we will then distribute to people who can knit various items,” Davidson explained.
The UWA have partnered with Granny Griff’s Sugar Shack on Uitsig Road where residents can drop off their donations.
Speaking on the response to the challenge, Thora Mansfield, founder of Open Door said the plan was to also donate some of the knitted blankets to old age homes to help bring warmth during winter.
“I founded the centre 24 years ago and since our humble beginnings our organisation has helped more than 400 000 men, women and children from abused backgrounds. We are eternally grateful to the UWA and all those who’ve generously donated to this drive. Having seen what has already been collected has been heartwarming and it shows the generosity of so many who are willing to give their time to our cause. Once the collection is completed we will distribute these items to those in need to bring them comfort and part of the blanket donations will be distributed to old age homes,” Mansfield said.
If you would like to give back to the initiative, all knitted items can be dropped at Granny Griff’s on 29 Uitsig Road. For more information on the drive, email: info@umhlangawomenachievers.co.za.
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