We were so pleased to participate in the USO Warrior and Family Center’s circus themed Mid-summer Bash with more than 400 in attendance. We highlighted our new knitting program at Fort Belvoir. We had over 40 people interested in our twice a month meetups, which began in August, and our Knitwell in the Cloud virtual one-on-one instruction.
Pictured above, left: Jenn Benecke, PK Volunteer Coordinator, and Lauren Brennan, PK Executive Director; next: Jenn, her daughter Charlotte, (the future of Project Knitwell!) and Meljun Kruk, Field Program Specialist for the National Capital District.
On the right side: Participants gather at the USO at Fort Belvoir for their first instructional session and opportunity to get to know other new knitters who also have deployed or have injured active duty service members in their family.
Carol Caparosa and Lauren Brennan, as Artists in Residence with Georgetown Arts and Humanities, had the opportunity to connect with new knitters on the outdoor podium at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. We are happy to be back in person at our founding site, and are looking forward to participating in their Wellness Fair on site in September.
We are pleased to celebrate our one year anniversary of our partnership with the Catholic Charities of the Dioceses of Arlington. We recently conducted a program evaluation and with the help of the translator were able to hear directly from the participants on how grateful they are for the support and supplies. Many of these women and their families are only able to connect with each other during our sessions and they thoroughly enjoy sharing their finished objects with each other and our volunteers.
We look forward to expanding to a second location in Woodbridge soon! Sessions will likely be every other Friday from 10:30am – 11:30am. Please let Jenn Benecke know if you can volunteer at jbenecke@knitwell.org.
