The Guideposts Reader

by Joan McKeon

Longtime GUIDEPOSTS reader Joan McKeon of Scottsdale, Arizona, knits sweaters. Hundreds of them. She knits at lunch, at staff meetings, even at the movies. Mostly sweaters for Guideposts Outreach’s “Knit for Kids.” In fact, she knit the two hundred thousandth sweater of this remarkable program.
    I have watched the evolution of “Knit for Kids” from its beginnings as the Guideposts Sweater Project. In 1996 Brigitte Weeks, then editor-in-chief of the book division, wrote in Daily Guideposts a devotional about her own sweater knitting for refugee children. She was astonished by the response from readers—thousands of requests for the pattern. When I would go to the book division, I’d see boxes piled up on her office couch. They came from all over North America—from church groups, schools, nursing homes, community organizations, even one group calling itself the Knit Wits. Soon part-time workers were hired—sweater interns—to help send sweaters to Mongolia and Harlem, to Ecuador and Florida’s hurricane victims. Finally, our Outreach division took over. World Vision, Heart to Heart and other organizations were enlisted; they could get the sweaters to wherever there was a need. We’ll hit 250,000 sweaters soon, and who knows, maybe you’ll knit the two hundred and fifty thousandth!
    Recently Joan traveled with World Vision to Uzbekistan to help distribute some of your sweaters. That’s her to the left with a youngster who has cerebral palsy. The sweater could have come from any of our knitting readers. Bright, colorful and warm. It’s part of the message of hope that started 60 years ago and has grown as it has been passed on.

The above article originally appeared in the March 2005 issue of Guideposts. To subscribe to Guideposts click here.