Keep Refugees Warm This Winter through Knitting with Heart
As I recounted last week, I’ve received so much information about knitting for refugees lately. I also promised last week to introduce you to a charity based in Serbia (an Eastern European country), and so today I’d like you to discover Knitting with Heart (“Pletenje Srcem” in Serbian). I’d like to let the words of Knitting with Heart’s leader Branka Panic speak for the group’s purpose: “We are an initiative that is helping the refugees from Middle East who are seeking refuge in Europe traveling through Serbia. Since the weather got much colder these days we decided to organize a winterization campaign. “We started an initiative in Belgrade, called ‘Knitting with Heart,’ with the idea to motivate people to knit and donate things for refugees. We had two workshops by now and we are also motivating people to get involved from their homes as well.” Knitting with Heart supports Refugee Aid Serbia, which offers assistance to refugees entering Serbia at its aid distribution point in Belgrade at Miksalište.
How You Can Help
Like nearly all refugee assistance knitting charities, this is a very new group, so they need as many people willing to knit as possible! If you happen to live in Eastern Europe, or if you have Eastern European ties, this could be a wonderful opportunity to give back to this region. Or, if you simply have a heart for refugees and wish to help in any way possible, this is a great opportunity. You’ll want to like the Knitting with Heart Facebook page. This will give you a chance to see what others are knitting and see the knitting workshops in progress. If you actually live in Serbia, of course, it’s an outstanding opportunity to get together with fellow knitters and enjoy knitting for the good of others! What can you knit? Anything that would be helpful for anyone in need during cold winter months. Hats, mittens, scarves… whatever you want to knit that is warm and useful will be greatly appreciated. And if you would like to send items to this effort from beyond Serbia’s borders, Branka asks that you send them to this address: Mikser Association, Karadjordjeva 46, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia. This may be the most remote (from my corner of the world in America, anyway!) charity I’ve ever written about, and so I’m very excited about it. What a great way to help refugees on the other side of the world through knitting!
