Cape Town - In celebration of Mandela Day, Cape Town library patrons, staff and compassionate donors, joyfully knitted more than 3 000 woollen beanies, that will be distributed to City clinics, for children in need.
The project, which was in commemoration of Mandela Day and to celebrate the libraries mascot LiBee, also served as a kick start of the City’s “1 000 Stories Before School Reading” campaign, set to officially launch in February 2022.
The campaign will be hosted at all City libraries and will focus on the joy, benefits and importance of reading to children, from 26 weeks of pregnancy until they go to school and can start to learn to read for themselves.
Mayoral committee member for community services and health Zahid Badroodien said when the department initially put the challenge in motion, supervisors and project heads knew it would create a warm buzz of activity amongst its patrons.
“When we challenged our library staff, friends and family to join our beanie project and to knit bee beanies, we knew they would rise to the challenge. The project celebrates our library mascot LiBee and the City libraries’ upcoming ”1 000 Stories Before School Reading“ campaign.
“We were able to collect 3 149 beanies, and several other baby items knitted by our avid crafters will be donated to City clinics for distribution to babies who visit these facilities for their health check ups,” said Badroodien.
The top five libraries, that collected the most knitted beanies, were Edgemead with 595, Wynberg library 571, Southfield 480, Durbanville 240, and Lansdowne which collected 147 beanies.
Other libraries, across the City, also participated in the initiative, with friend groups and knitting clubs, knitting and donating wool and needles for the project.
In Milnerton, the community library’s knitting club and the Spin-a-Yarn knitting club of Lansdowne Library also joined in the fun, and knitted blankets and other clothing for the winter handouts.
“The project was a wonderful way to get the community and staff working towards a common goal, I am grateful for every single knitter who took up the challenge and worked to benefit the greater good,” said Badroodien.
Cape Argus