This is an ongoing knitting and crochet class that makes items for charities. We are currently making chemo hats for cancer patients, prayer shawls for St. Elizabeth Hospital, scarves, hats, and mittens for homeless or less fortunate individuals in our community, and many more organizations. All ages of participants are welcome to join us!  No experience is necessary, we will teach you how to crochet or knit. Yarn, crochet hooks and knitting needles will be provided. Join us for this rewarding ministry. We meet in the conference room on the upper level from 5:30 to 6:30 PM each Wednesday. You may also work from your home and drop off items for the group.  Donations of yarn are always welcome.  Contact Cindy Whitcomb at the church, 618-667-6241 for more information.

We are delighted to start making chemo hats for the Cancer Treatment Center in Swansea IL.  Our September donation was 11 chemo fuzzy hats, 20 warm caps, and 5 bootie/slippers.  All sizes and types of caps/hats are needed.  Knit, crochet or cloth items are acceptable.  Adult sizes only please.  Completed items should be dropped off at the church.  Donations of yarn are always accepted.  Anyone can participate in this project.  Free cap/hat patterns are available on the Lion Brand yarn web site:  www.lionbrand.com.  Contact  Cindy Whitcomb for more information.

We have started delivering donations to the Friends of St. Elizabeth Department of St Elizabeth Hospital in Belleville IL.  A total of 93 eye glass cases and 30 prayer shawls have been donated last year.    They have requested more prayer shawls, but are not taking any more eyeglass cases and we will continue to deliver the shawls throughout the year. This is an on-going project.   Our September donation was 30 Prayer Shawls and 40 scarves!  Thanks to all the members of Chicks with Sticks for their generous gifts of time and talent.  Check out the St. Elizabeth Hospital web site for more information on the Friends of St. Elizabeth group.  www.steliz.org/give. 

We delivered 45 preemie hats to Anderson Hospital in March.  They do not need many hats because most of the premature infants are sent to St. Louis MO.  Thanks to the members of the Chicks with Sticks group for making these items.

We delivered 81 hats, 3 scarves and 3 preemie bootie sets to  the Cunningham Children's Home in Urbana IL, and they were thrilled to receive these items.  They immediately priced them for sale in their gift shop!  Information about this ministry of the United Methodist Women of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference can be found on the following web sites:  www.cunninghamhome.org or www.umc.org.  They held a quilt show the weekend of April 8-10, 2011.  Pictures of the quilts are located on the lower left side of this page.  Thanks to all the members of this wonderful group for your gifts of time and talent!   

We are currently working on wash cloths to deliver to hospice patients from Family Hospice in Belleville.  Our September donation was 30 washcloths with soap, 16 washcloths plain, 8 eyeglass casses, assorted caps.  This is an on-going project, if you would like to make these, we are using 100% cotton yarn (Peaches and Cream) or similar brand.  They can be crochet or knit, any color.  The size depends on your knitting needle or crochet hook.  Most are around 10-12 inches in either a round or square shape.  We are placing a small soap in the center and draw up the sides then tie it together to make a gift bag.  Donations of fancy soaps or yarn are always welcome.  We have patterns available for crafters to use, contact Cindy Whitcomb at 618-667-6241 if you want to help. 

BREAKING NEWS! 

Chicks with Sticks will be featured in the local newspapers soon.  Look for a picture of Gail Joyner showing off our handiwork with the staff of Family Hospice of Belleville!

The Following items were donated to the youth group of Troy UMC to deliver to homeless individuals in the St. Louis area:

34 Scarves,  19 pairs of mittens,  51 hats, all hand made by the ladies in the Chicks with Sticks knitting and crochet group.