Look familiar? Meet some kids who are wearing the sweaters you’re knitting

Thanks, From Appalachia

by Pablo Diaz
Vice President of Outreach

For almost 10 years you readers have been knitting sweaters for the Guideposts Knit for Kids program and sending them to us—more than 250,000 sweaters to date. That’s a lot of sweaters for a lot of needy kids all over the world. You knit in every color of the rainbow and each sweater is knit with love and prayer. The notes you include prove that. For a few years now as vice president of Guideposts Outreach, I’ve helped box the sweaters, but I’d never met the kids who wear them.
    A few months ago I got a call from World Vision, an organization that has distributed thousands of your sweaters. Would I like to accompany a shipment of sweaters going to the small mountain town of Philippi, West Virginia? There in the heart of Appalachia, in an area of few jobs and much poverty, World Vision runs an after-school program for kids and their parents. “I’d love to!” I said.
    On a cool May day I was joined in Philippi by Joan McKeon, one of our knitters, and several boxes of sweaters to present to the kids and their parents. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t sure what the kids’ reactions would be. When I was a boy I was raring to be outside or with my friends rather than listening to some adult. But these kids were rapt. There were oohs and aahs when they saw the stacks of multicolored sweaters.
    “Each sweater is different,” I said, “and made just for you.”
    We get requests from you knitters. “Can I see what the kids look like in their sweaters?” you ask. Well, look at the picture above. That’s me with Christopher, a little boy who sat in the front row. Of all the kids, he was the most attentive.
    “Do you have any questions?” I asked the group.
    Christopher’s hand shot up. “Can I take a sweater home for Katie, my new baby sister?” he asked. I almost melted on the spot. This little guy didn’t need my explanation of the program. He already had the spirit of it in his heart.
    “We’ll find something,” I said. The kids lined up to get their sweaters. When it was Christopher’s turn, I helped him into the sweater he’d chosen (he had to put it on right away). When his head popped through the neck hole, he was beaming. He jumped into my arms and gave me a bear hug that toppled us both to the floor. I’m writing this to pass along that hug. It was meant for you—all of you knitters. I could tell you other stories about our visit: about the knitting classes Joan McKeon led for the adults. Or about the little girl who couldn’t get over the fact that she could pick any sweater she wanted. But Christopher’s hug is what lingers most. Of course, our program is about giving sweaters to the world’s neediest children in places like tsunami-battered Asia and drought-stricken Africa or even the depressed areas of our own country, but it’s also much more than that.
It’s about spreading love, God’s love, from your knitting needles to children like Christopher. Whenever you give love, it’s bound to come back. A hug so big it can knock you to the floor. Thanks for that.