With more than month to go before the official blanket handover on Nelson Mandela Day on 18 July, everyone is encouraged to pick up their needles and knit.
Carolyn Steyn, the founder of 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day said, “We have been overwhelmed by the incredible response we have received to date. This initiative has been embraced by individuals, both locally and abroad, by corporate South Africa, by a number of celebrities.”
Steyn added that the initiative has even been scripted into the soapie, Generations. “Who would have thought that knitting and crocheting would all of a sudden become so popular?” asked Steyn.
She said another exciting development with the campaign was the partnership with Joint Aid Management (Jam), a South African- based humanitarian aid organisation that was founded in 1984.
“Jam currently provides for the needs of 49 000 children in Early Childhood Development Centres in informal settlements and poverty stricken areas around the country,” explained Steyn. “Jam will be distributing the bulk of the blankets to these Early Childhood Development Centres, many of which are housed in poorly-insulated, corrugated iron shacks, which get extremely cold in the winter.”
Steyn’s next project is a special Father’s Day blanket handover concert, with the leading men of South African theatre at the Auto & General Theatre on the Square on 30 June.
Details: www.67blankets.com.
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