EUP Women Knit Hats for Soldiers

Meta Welcher of Rudyard stands with the "Warmth for Warriors" booth during the car show Satuday, where visitors could sponsor one of the hats sent to sick and injured troops overseas for a donation. A group that began in the EUP and now includes people from areas as diverse as Rudyard, Bay City, Grand Blanc, and Brooklyn, New York, have banded together to knit and crochet hats and send them to ill and wounded American troops overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The project was initiated by two Rudyard women, Meta Welcher and Polly Ross, who decided to start a knitting group during Christmas 2004, and began knitting and mailing out comfort items to U.S. soldiers.

They had a tent set up during the St. Ignace Car Show Saturday, June 27, where people could find out more about the project and have the opportunity to "sponsor" a hat for a soldier by giving the group a donation. The group raised $419.14 for the cause Saturday, $200 of which was presented at 10 a.m. as a check from the St. Ignace Women of the Moose.

Warmth for Warriors is thankful to the group for their donation, as well as to all of those who visited the booth and contributed Saturday, Mrs. Welcher said.

John Schneider, a celebrity guest during the St. Ignace Car Show, signs 10 hats for the Warmth for Warriors program, which makes and sends knit hats to sick and wounded American soldiers overseas. The group has not yet decided how best to use these autographed hats, but the knitters said they were thankful for the contributions of Mr. Schneider and everyone else who stopped by their booth at the show Saturday, June 27. "Everyone down there was very supportive," she said. "We did very well."

Since its tent was set up next to the Kewadin Casino tent featuring John Schneider during the show, the group got the chance to have 10 of its hats signed by the celebrity guest. The women said they have not yet decided how to use these autographed hats.

The group was formalized in September 2008 under the name "Warmth for Warriors," a phrase used by Mrs. Welcher's husband, John, that she said "just stuck." So far, the volunteers have made and mailed out 3,509 hats to members of the armed forces, most of whom are sick or hurt.

The St. Ignace Women of the Moose present a check for $200 to Meta Welcher from the Warmth for Warriors program Saturday, June 27, at the St. Ignace Car Show. Including this amount, the group, which knits hats and sends them to sick and injured American troops, raised $419.14 during the show. Pictured are (from left) Charlotte Everson, Donna Thompson, Sue Apple, Meta Welcher, and Norma Emery. (Photograph courtesy of Charlotte Everson) Since the group was named, Mrs. Welcher said satellite groups that send hats to her organization to package and send overseas, have begun springing up all over the place.

"A lot of people really want to do something meaningful, they just don't know how," she said. "There are a lot of women who are really glad this opportunity is here. Their hearts really go out to the soldiers."

The soldiers enjoy the comfort the hats provide as much as the women enjoy creating them, Mrs. Welcher said.

"We've gotten wonderful letters back," she said. "These men and women really appreciate this."

Each hat, which Mrs. Welcher estimated takes about two hours apiece to make, carries the name of the person who knitted it and a poem.

Jan Zerby, one of the group's knitters from Bay City, has sent more than 100 hats since she joined. The VFW auxiliary in Brimley, a group of UAW retirees, a woman in Rapid River, Lenore Katz from Brooklyn, New York, and members in Rudyard and Paradise are a few of the other active knitters who volunteer their time and knitting and crocheting needles to the cause.

New groups are also just beginning in Grand Blanc and St. Ignace, Mrs. Welcher said, and much of the growth has occurred over the last year. The organization is also looking to begin shifting its focus from troops in Iraq to Afghanistan, partly because of a similar shift underway in the armed forces and partly because of the particulr need for warm clothing in regions of that country.

Two large donations of yarn have been provided by the Brown Sheep company of Nebraska, and the women are always looking for donations to help pay for more yarn and postage.

Mrs. Welcher said the group continues to grow and will be looking for volunteers interested in knitting as well as other aspects of the organization like planning fundraisers.

She said she never expected her idea to grow like it has today.

"It has made wonderful progress," Mrs. Welcher said. "I was just doing a quiet thing out of my home, and now it's grown."

Those who would like to donate or participate may call Mrs. Welcher at 478-6033 or visit the group's Web site at www.warmthforwarriors. com, where knitting instructions are posted.