THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 7, 1994 TAG: 9410050143
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUSAN SMITH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
BETTY COWELL of Chesapeake is using her talents as a knitter to help keep homeless Americans warm this winter.
She is involved in ``Warm Up, America,'' a nationwide project in which volunteers knit or crochet blankets for the homeless. Stitch by stitch, little squares are joined together to make warm blankets that help solve a national problem.
The idea started about two years ago in Evie Rosen's yarn shop in Wausau, Wis. In the beginning, Rosen assembled the donated squares in her shop. As the number increased, she had to call on her family, friends and customers for help.
According to a ``Warm Up America'' newsletter, the community-based program has now spread across the country. Groups of co-workers from businesses, senior citizens clubs, knitting guilds, hospital auxiliary groups, sales people, Girl Scouts and even fourth-graders from Seattle have joined the project.
About 10,000 afghans have reached the homeless through donations to women's shelters, teenage centers, nursing homes, hospitals, child care centers and to the Red Cross, Salvation Army and the United Way.
Cowell heard about the project from her daughter, Pamela Montgomery, who lives in Wisconsin.
In the evenings, while watching television, Cowell crocheted 7-by-9-inch rectangles. When she finished a bag full, she mailed them to her daughter. Volunteers sewed the patches into blankets. It takes 49 squares for one full-size blanket.
Montgomery urged her mother to organize a ``Warm Up America'' effort in her own community. Cowell shared the idea with members of the Methodist Women's organization at Oak Grove United Methodist Church.
Church members Ruth Blattert, Esther Wood, Gladys Anderson and Helen Davis took up their needles, and the Chesapeake branch of the project began. Lessie Herrell, a friend of Crowell's, also contributed her share of knitted rectangles.
``For those who always wanted to do something for the homeless,'' said Cowell, ``this is one way to help. You can knit while you are home by yourself or get together in groups to work and visit.''
So far the Chesapeake ``Warm Up America'' team has contributed 17 blankets, and four more are in the works.
``All of the yarn that we use is donated,'' said Cowell, ``so there is no expense to the knitter, only a donation of time and love.''
Cowell put a basket in the narthex at Oak Grove Church to collect contributions of yarn. So far she has received donations ranging from one skein of yard to several cartons, which one church member found while cleaning out a closet.
Monsanto, a major manufacturer of yarn, has thrown its full support behind the growing project. Later this year, the company will promote a national, toll-free telephone number for people who want more information about how to become involved.
The November issue of Family Circle Magazine will feature an article about the knitting project.
For now, Cowell wants to spread the word to other area churches and to community groups in Chesapeake so that this can be a warmer winter for the homeless. MEMO: For information or to make a yarn donation, call Betty Cowell at
482-7922.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Ruth Blattert, left, and Betty Cowell participate in the ``Warm Up,
America'' project.
by CNB