BRIDGETOWN, N.S. — Crafters from the Annapolis Valley region have answered the call to help baby kangaroos orphaned or injured by the Australian wildfires.
Organizer Caroline Perriman, owner of knitting and craft store Wools on the Corner in Bridgetown, provided free sewing kits for crafters to make joey pouches, which will be donated to the NSW Bushfires Crafter Guild.
“Because they're just so little, their moms probably haven't made it. Seeing all the pictures on the television and everything else that's going on in the world, it kind of makes you sad and you want to do something that's a positive,” Perriman said.
The pouches consist of an outer wool covering and a detachable fleece lining. Perriman said it’s important the pouches have fleece lining, “so it's nice and warm and soft, and they can't (hurt) their little fingers in the knitting.”
After a friend approached Perriman about donating fabric to animals affected by the fires, she decided to get involved and reach out to the local crafting community.
She said the idea to make sewing kits came from the Facebook group NSW Bushfires Crafter Guild, which is in need of pouches, fabric nests for small animals and koala blankets.
“I've just chosen (one that is) the highest needed, and they're actually really fast to make,” she said.
Perriman and her friend purchased flannel from a local variety shop, and Perriman also donated wool from her own stash and downloaded patterns to include in the kits. On
Jan. 7, she posted on her shop’s Facebook page asking for pouches and, less than two days later, between 30 to 40 crafters had asked for a kit.
To Perriman’s surprise, six crafters even trekked through the Jan. 8 snowstorm to her shop to pick up a kit.
“It's very overwhelming. It's a wonderful response. You feel very good that people will actually come out in the storm to do this.”
While Perriman originally planned to mail the pouches, a woman headed to Australia on Jan. 10 offered to deliver the pouches herself.
“We're Canadian, so this is what we do. The lady offering that was very nice. It's a very nice gesture,” she said.
Although Perriman’s delivery will include only a few dozen small pouches, she said her community’s desire to come together will make a huge difference in the lives of some of Australia’s most vulnerable creatures.
After all, says Perriman, “many hands make light work.”
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