College student Ava Williams united the community forces of Moorings Presbyterian Church and Gulf Coast High School to craft stuffed animals for Youth Haven, a children’s shelter in Naples. Williams taught both young and old to crochet and eventually donated over fifteen stuffed animals to the foster home.
“I started crocheting two, three years ago. Since I started I just haven’t stopped. I was constantly crocheting throughout this whole thing,” Williams said.
She spent over three hours on each animal, with some club members taking more than five hours to complete their creations. Williams learned to crochet in Girl Scouts and received her Girl Scout Gold Award for her community contributions. She has been scouting for over twelve years.
“When I gave the animals to Youth Haven, they loved it. They want the club to keep going and donate more,” Williams said. “It felt nice helping local children and people around here.”
Moorings Presbyterian Church member Mary Payne attended club meetings where Williams gave crochet lessons. She starting with teaching a simple granny square and working up to complicated projects like her stuffed animals.
“Some of them know how to crochet, some of them don’t. Ava is very good at teaching the ones that don’t know how to crochet the beginning stitches, the way to hold the crochet hook, how to handle yarn,” Payne said.
Payne herself knits baby blankets and hats for Naples Community Hospital. The group of crafters meet every other Thursday at the church for socialization and stitching.
“It’s pure joy and relief that there is some place that these items can be put to good use,” Payne said. “In South Florida, we don’t have much use for heavy afghans or crochet hats. It’s nice to find someplace they can go.”
Williams hopes her crochet club at Gulf Coast High School will continue to grow after her graduation. She plans to continue donating her stuffed animals to Youth Haven while pursuing a psychology degree and Florida Southwestern College.
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