After retirement Renda Good and her husband moved from the OKC/Harrah area to the Porum/Briartown area in October. Being former military, they had moved a lot during their careers and were now ready to live in a small town and leave the hustle and bustle of the city life. However, they didn’t expect to be so accepted by their new neighbors and little community.
“Everyone knows everyone here and they just accepted us with open arms,” Renda Good said. “That’s when we knew we wanted to do something to give back to the community and I started wondering what I could do. So I sent out a message a few months ago to see if anyone would donate yarn to me for a special project I had planned. I wanted to make lap afghans for people in nursing homes in the local communities. The first one would be Checotah’s Nursing Home.”
Good thought she would just take her free time and crochet as she went along until she made a few afghans to share with everyone. She knew it would take a little time but being retired, she had more time on her hands now.
“I was thrilled to receive a special donation of so much yarn from Vera Dowling and her sister. Then Teresa Prewitt, who is a true blessing, asked if anyone would like to help me and I got a message from Carol Marie Stafford and Denise Beird who wanted to help crochet so I distributed the yarn amongst us. Before long I was shocked that we were able to do our first donation to the Checotah local nursing home right before Christmas.
Good let the residents pick out their own afghans so they would get what colors and patterns they wanted.
“The afghans are not huge, about 30×35, so they don’t get caught up in wheelchairs or walkers. They are just enough to cover up their legs to stay nice and warm and knock off a chill. I didn’t want to dictate any patterns or colors to those who were donating their time to crochet. Everyone could use their imagination or patterns.
“This project is out of love and kindness and we all have other lives and responsibilities at home or work but when we are able we will do what can be done. Then when we have enough for our next nursing home donation we will meet and take the donation as a team.
“We were all excited when we had enough to hand out before Christmas. We were able to go from room to room with the service coordinator and hand-deliver all the afghans. We had a wonderful time and got so much more out of giving to those sweet residents.
“It’s been a true blessing to me and actually a stitch of kindness which knits us all together as a community. We have lots more lap afghans to make to keep sharing love and kindness. I am still awe struck at all the kindness we have received since moving here and the donations of yarn and people wanting to help crochet. It’s just fantastic and hopefully we will be able to take them to the people that need them the most as we visit with them to hear their stories and show them the kindness they so deserve.”
