Giving hugs, one stitch at a time

by Carol Crump
Tuesday, September 23, 2008 11:11 AM MDT

The colorful triangles and rectangles of soft yarn and fleece are more than an outlet for eager knitters and crocheters.

Each one of the shawls made for Casper First Church of the Nazarene’s Prayer Shawl Ministry is a blessing for someone who needs it.

“It’s easy to tell someone you’re praying for them,” said Pastor Tom Lance, “but hand them a shawl, and it’s a visual representation that someone is praying for you. That a powerful feeling, a powerful ministry.”

Church member Gail Evans is the initiator of the project locally that the church hopes eventually will produce more than 1,000 shawls to share with “anyone who needs a hug.”

Evans said the church has four or five women who knit constantly and about 12 who take part. However, the congregation needs more knitters, crocheters and sewing enthusiasts.

“This congregation is out of knitters. We need help,” she said.

The national movement and outreach ministry was started in 1998 by Janet Bristow and Victoria Galo, graduates of the 1997 Women's Leadership Institute in Hartford, Conn.

Evans first heard of this ministry when her sister in Saratoga received a shawl from her church after having back surgery.

Included was a card that indicated that the shawl was made by hand, with prayers for blessings that included courage, strength, peace and healing.

Touched by what she said was a wonderful, caring thing to do, Evans brought the idea back to her church in Casper.

So far, Evans and her fellow church members have made more than 100 prayer shawls. They have given out 45 of the comforting shawls, in every color of the rainbow, since April.

Shawls with the attached words of love have gone to cancer patients, nursing homes and hospice, and a family whose 11-year-old-son died.

A retired pastor wraps it around his shoulders every morning to drink his coffee and read the newspaper, she said.

The shawls have gone to a wounded soldier in Cody for support during rehabilitation, for happy occasions like graduations and to others who Evans said needed to know they weren’t forgotten.

An elderly nursing home recipient with Alzheimer’s asked that she be buried in her shawl.

“It’s a tangible way to remember that you’re being prayed for, so we pray while we’re knitting,” Evans said.

The newest knitting project is 138, pocket-sized, 3x6-inch rectangles that will be sent, prayer attached, to the Wyoming National Guard troops that will be deployed again in April.

Each piece is blessed at a service at First Church of the Nazarene on the first Sunday of the month, also called Prayer Shawl Sunday.

Evans started the project hoping to make enough prayer shawls for everyone in the the VA Hospital in Sheridan.

The vision has grown from local veterans’ clinics to include hospice, every nursing home in the city and state, and maybe eventually Walter Reed Army Hospital, Evans said hopefully.

“There’s so much need for a hug,” she said. “I keep hearing things. There’s a never ending need.”

Anyone who can knit, crochet, or edge or tie rectangles of fleece is welcome to join the project.

The participants meet the last Friday of each month at the church, 2020 S. Jefferson, to knit, talk and share munchies.

Prayer shawls also can be worked on at home, from patterns and yarn supplied by the church. Additional patterns are available online at www.shawlministry.com.

Although the prayer shawls are a ministry of her church, Evans said there will be no requirement or pressure to join the congregation.

“It’s not just for churches. We need help,” she said.

For more information, call Evans at 237-9202, or First Church of the Nazarene at 234-9601.

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