Loading...In 2003 Jean Lengel had the idea that a needlework group would be nice to start in the two Churches on the Mountain (Church of the Transfiguration, Blue Ridge Summit, and Calvary Chapel, Beartown).
She needed a project to get things rolling but had difficulty discovering one. When she and her husband went on vacation to Nova Scotia in October of that year, the project popped up right in front of her. They attended the Anglican Church in Digby. As she walked up the aisle she saw a pile of knitted teddy bears under the Altar. She inquired about them and found that they were Teddies for Tragedies. They were collected in Canada and sent out over the world where a tragedy had occurred and children needed cheering up. When she left the church that morning, she had the pattern, address and this was to be the project.
When she returned home she had a tea one afternoon and invited the ladies from both churches who were interested and the group was formed. The first teddies were sent to Canada but they realized that the postage was so expensive that they decided to find another outlet for them. One outlet was to send them to Iraq with a soldier who was on leave and returning to Iraq. He took two large black plastic trash bags of teddies with him and handed them out to the children in Iraq.
The needlework group is still meeting twice a month and other projects have been undertaken such as hats and scarves for The Seaman's Church Institute of New York City, lap covers for people in wheelchairs at the Episcopal Home in Shippensburg, hats for chemotherapy patients (distributed to Cancer Therapy Depts.), hats for premature babies and newborns (distributed to area hospitals), and shawls for church shut-ins. The group had a Harvest Dinner for the residents of Hillside Rest Home in Blue Ridge Summit and gave a hat and scarf to each resident after the dinner.
