| Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now, Inc. “The Greater Norwalk Area’s Community Action Agency” Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now, Inc. (NEON a private non-profit organization, is the community action agency serving the greater Norwalk Area including New Canaan, Westport, Weston, Wilton and Darien. |
| Sharing Their Skills |
On a recent winter's
afternoon, several
women made their
way downstairs from
their quarters at the Kingsway Apartments senior housing
complex to the
first-floor community
room with knitting
and crochet needles
in hand.
It was time for their weekly gathering an event that some of
the women have participated in for more than a decade. The
women are all members of the Retired & Senior Volunteer
Program of Southwestern Connecticut, an organization that
pairs retirees 55 and older with opportunities that match their
interests and skills.
It was a small group this week:
only four showed. A few stayed
away and tended to sick
spouses. Few words were
spoken among the women. Two
of the four present, Pei Tan and
Tsay Ling Young, only spoke
Chinese, and fellow volunteer Carmen Tardio
only spoke Spanish, but with hand gestures and encouraging
nods they taught one another whenever they hit snags and
worked through their crochet and knit patterns into the
afternoon.
"They get along like peas in a pod," said Judy Michaels, the
RSVP service coordinator. "It's really quite amazing they love
each other."
This particular needlework group usually meets every week
for about an hour, often a little more. The items they create
are donated to various organizations in the surrounding
community, including the Liberation Program, the Domestic
Violence Crisis Center, Christian Community Action, AIC
Hall-Brooke Hospital, Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now Inc.
and the South Norwalk Community Center.
Materials are donated to the program by the Wal-Mart
Foundation and individuals in the community, said Teri Klein,
the RSVP project director. RSVP of Southwestern
Connecticut is sponsored by NEON.
Wilton resident Linda Fein is the instructor for the Kingsway
Apartments needlework group. The women always have fun,
she said. Each gathering is just a chance to "sit and knit and
have a cup of tea," she said.
Fein got involved after she retired from teaching and
"needed something to do," she said. She called Caterina
Sullivan, the RSVP outreach coordinator, and began
teaching a knitting program once a week at Silver Hill Hospital
in New Canaan and eventually linked up with the Kingsway
Apartments crowd, she said.
"It's a very warm, friendly group," Fein said of the Kingsway
residents. "They greet me like a long-lost relative."
Klein said the program has been good for the participants
socially and cognitively. It also helps ease some of the
arthritic kinks in the joints, she added.
"I never knew how to knit before Linda showed me," volunteer
Ellie Cohen, a 12-year resident at Kingsway, said while
stitching a white knit scarf freckled with silver strands. "I don't
like complicated stuff," she said, but she has enjoyed making
scarves and other simple patterns.
Cohen has been involved with the program for 10 years. "It
makes you feel good to do things for other people. It really
lifts you it really does."
The camaraderie also keeps Cohen and other Kingsway
participants coming downstairs. "I just enjoy it. It takes me out
of my apartment," she said.
The language barrier with some of the members doesn't get
in the way, Cohen noted. "We can show each other. When
you show that's a language in itself."
RSVP volunteers knit in group programs at various locations
throughout the area. In addition to the Kingsway Apartments,
women gather at the Norwalk Senior Center, the Norwalk
Chapter of Hadassah, Miss Laura Raymond Homes,
ElderHouse, the Weston Senior Center, The Wilton Project
Table, Ogden House in Wilton and the Westport Woman's
Club. Participants also create items in their homes that are
picked up by RSVP representatives.
Even when the snow and ice thaw, the women volunteers
remain busy year-round creating blankets, quilts, sweaters
and baby sets and stockpiling their goods. More than 200
children at the NEON Child Development Program have
received hats, mittens and scarves knitted by volunteers this
winter alone, and approximately 2,000 items are donated per
year, according to RSVP. The women also made 200 caps
that were donated to Save the Children in Westport for
premature babies.
RSVP of Southwestern Connecticut serves Norwalk, Darien,
Greenwich, New Canaan, Stamford, Weston, Westport and
Wilton. In addition to knitting, volunteers can work in the
areas of health and safety; literacy through reading,
mentoring and tutoring; culture and tourism as welcome
center counselors or museum guides; environmental
preservation; companionship and outreach; and
administrative and agency support.
"People are encouraged if they want to knit to call us," said
Klein.
Donations of knitting and crocheting needles and yarn also
are needed.
Anyone interested in donating materials, knitting or taking
part in other volunteer opportunities should contact Sullivan
at 899-2443 or csullivan@neon-norwalk.org.
Additional information is available at www.rsvpswct.org.
afternoon, several
women made their
way downstairs from
their quarters at the Kingsway Apartments senior housing
complex to the
first-floor community
room with knitting
and crochet needles
in hand.
It was time for their weekly gathering an event that some of
the women have participated in for more than a decade. The
women are all members of the Retired & Senior Volunteer
Program of Southwestern Connecticut, an organization that
pairs retirees 55 and older with opportunities that match their
interests and skills.
It was a small group this week:
only four showed. A few stayed
away and tended to sick
spouses. Few words were
spoken among the women. Two
of the four present, Pei Tan and
Tsay Ling Young, only spoke
Chinese, and fellow volunteer Carmen Tardio
only spoke Spanish, but with hand gestures and encouraging
nods they taught one another whenever they hit snags and
worked through their crochet and knit patterns into the
afternoon.
"They get along like peas in a pod," said Judy Michaels, the
RSVP service coordinator. "It's really quite amazing they love
each other."
This particular needlework group usually meets every week
for about an hour, often a little more. The items they create
are donated to various organizations in the surrounding
community, including the Liberation Program, the Domestic
Violence Crisis Center, Christian Community Action, AIC
Hall-Brooke Hospital, Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now Inc.
and the South Norwalk Community Center.
Materials are donated to the program by the Wal-Mart
Foundation and individuals in the community, said Teri Klein,
the RSVP project director. RSVP of Southwestern
Connecticut is sponsored by NEON.
Wilton resident Linda Fein is the instructor for the Kingsway
Apartments needlework group. The women always have fun,
she said. Each gathering is just a chance to "sit and knit and
have a cup of tea," she said.
Fein got involved after she retired from teaching and
"needed something to do," she said. She called Caterina
Sullivan, the RSVP outreach coordinator, and began
teaching a knitting program once a week at Silver Hill Hospital
in New Canaan and eventually linked up with the Kingsway
Apartments crowd, she said.
"It's a very warm, friendly group," Fein said of the Kingsway
residents. "They greet me like a long-lost relative."
Klein said the program has been good for the participants
socially and cognitively. It also helps ease some of the
arthritic kinks in the joints, she added.
"I never knew how to knit before Linda showed me," volunteer
Ellie Cohen, a 12-year resident at Kingsway, said while
stitching a white knit scarf freckled with silver strands. "I don't
like complicated stuff," she said, but she has enjoyed making
scarves and other simple patterns.
Cohen has been involved with the program for 10 years. "It
makes you feel good to do things for other people. It really
lifts you it really does."
The camaraderie also keeps Cohen and other Kingsway
participants coming downstairs. "I just enjoy it. It takes me out
of my apartment," she said.
The language barrier with some of the members doesn't get
in the way, Cohen noted. "We can show each other. When
you show that's a language in itself."
RSVP volunteers knit in group programs at various locations
throughout the area. In addition to the Kingsway Apartments,
women gather at the Norwalk Senior Center, the Norwalk
Chapter of Hadassah, Miss Laura Raymond Homes,
ElderHouse, the Weston Senior Center, The Wilton Project
Table, Ogden House in Wilton and the Westport Woman's
Club. Participants also create items in their homes that are
picked up by RSVP representatives.
Even when the snow and ice thaw, the women volunteers
remain busy year-round creating blankets, quilts, sweaters
and baby sets and stockpiling their goods. More than 200
children at the NEON Child Development Program have
received hats, mittens and scarves knitted by volunteers this
winter alone, and approximately 2,000 items are donated per
year, according to RSVP. The women also made 200 caps
that were donated to Save the Children in Westport for
premature babies.
RSVP of Southwestern Connecticut serves Norwalk, Darien,
Greenwich, New Canaan, Stamford, Weston, Westport and
Wilton. In addition to knitting, volunteers can work in the
areas of health and safety; literacy through reading,
mentoring and tutoring; culture and tourism as welcome
center counselors or museum guides; environmental
preservation; companionship and outreach; and
administrative and agency support.
"People are encouraged if they want to knit to call us," said
Klein.
Donations of knitting and crocheting needles and yarn also
are needed.
Anyone interested in donating materials, knitting or taking
part in other volunteer opportunities should contact Sullivan
at 899-2443 or csullivan@neon-norwalk.org.
Additional information is available at www.rsvpswct.org.
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| NEON, Inc. 98 South Main Street Norwalk, CT 06854 Phone: 203-899-2483 Fax: 203.899.2430 Email: admin@neon-norwalk.org |
By Jeanne Goodman
Norwalk Citizen News, March 8, 2007
Norwalk Citizen News, March 8, 2007
