Hear the words ‘Iraq,’ and ‘Afghanistan,’ and the last image to come to mind is a group of people sitting around a coffee shop knitting.
Unless, of course, your name is Sandie Sensor.
Sensor’s husband is a Vietnam vet and she feels strongly about the soldiers serving in Afghanistan. She believes some people forget there is a war occurring.
“Unless you have a family (member) or friend or son or somebody that’s involved with the military,” she said.
Sensor, a retired teacher, teaches knitting at the Glen Ellyn Public Library. It was at one of her classes when she met Robin Bellezzo.
Until Sensor met Bellezzo, she considered getting involved by teaching a knitting class for the wives of soldiers.
It was Bellezzo — a student of Sensor’s — who recommended that they donate knitted items to the soldiers serving in Afghanistan. Bellezzo’s mother belongs to a group of knitters in Homewood who do the same.
“So we started donating our things to the Homewood group,” Sensor said.
Leslie Edmondson is the owner of Wool and Co., a Geneva store that sells yarn and knitting supplies. After Christmas, she posted something on her store’s Web site calling for 100 knitted items to be donated to soldiers. Since posting the request, she has received 250 knitted items and numerous knitting groups have formed to continue the supply.
“Different people e-mailed us and said, ‘oh, I will get a couple of my friends together, get some of this going,’” she said.
Edmondson then ships the knitted items to an armed forces support group called Citizen Sam in Peoria.
“They see where the need is and distribute them from there,” Edmondson said.
Sensor and Bellezzo decided to start their own group of knitters and send helmet liners, gators (neck warmers) and scarves to soldiers serving in Afghanistan, via Edmondson.
The two women are looking for people to join them. They chose to meet at Caribou Coffee because of its location in the community.
“We were hoping there were people in our own community that were (willing) to do the same thing,” Sensor said.
The two women have been placing fliers throughout Glen Ellyn and depending on word-of-mouth to attract people to the new knitting group.
“If we got 10 or 12 people, we would be thrilled,” Sensor said.
Knitting one item could take hours, and Sensor said it’s a lot to ask someone to volunteer the time to knit something and then give it away.
“I understand if it’s not something that everybody would have time to do,” she said.
Time is one thing Sensor is willing to sacrifice. She hopes that the group lasts for years.
“We’re in this long term,” she said. “Afghanistan is long term.”
Sensor considers the volunteered time pay back.
“How can you walk around in the world and not realize a big portion of people are giving up their lives (in Afghanistan)?” she asked.
So Sensor is doing what she can. When she hears Afghanistan, now she thinks of helmet liners, gators and scarves.
“That makes me feel like I’m doing something good in my retired life,” she said.
How to help
WHAT Volunteer knitting items for soldiers
WHEN 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesdays
WHERE Caribou Coffee, 495 W. Roosevelt Road, Glen Ellyn
Glen Ellyn, IL —
