Organiser Marianne Whyte says the idea started when her husband John asked her what she was going to do with her boxes of ‘stash’.
‘‘Any knitter will know my ‘stash’ is boxes of oddments and skeins of wool left over from previous knitting projects.
‘‘John wanted me to clear some space, and as I had been looking for a way to help those suffering in Ukraine, I put the two ideas together and came up with a knitting project to help newborns and toddlers in the war zone,’’ says Mrs Whyte.
Using John’s contacts through the International Lions network they soon discovered a Scotsman who was transporting humanitarian aid supplies into Kyiv.
‘‘He is a Kyiv Lions Club member and agreed to help us.’’
The Rangiora Lioness Club quickly adopted the project, helping Mrs Whyte to source knitters and wool.
Rangiora Lioness president Anne Thorne says it was an honour to contribute to the project.
‘‘The ladies knitted with a lot of care and love, even going as far as matching buttons and packaging them into bags.’’
When they ran short of wool Mrs Whyte put the call out over social media for extra wool and help knitting the many booties, bonnets and baby clothes.
‘‘Lots of wool was donated and many knitters responded, producing an amazing collection of items for new mums in Kyiv,’’ she says.
Another Lions Club member introduced Mrs Whyte to a Ukrainian in Christchurch, and through him, she had all the name tags and washing instructions translated into Ukrainian.
All have on them a small message saying: ‘‘Made with loving help by the ladies of Lions District 202E.’’
John Whyte says the project is still looking for extra sponsorship to help get the over two hundred bagged packets of knitting stored in three large boxes to Ukraine.
‘‘We still need some extra funding because airfreight is the best way to get the aid to Ukraine, that way we can make sure it gets to the right people.’’
Mrs Whyte says due to the stresses of the war, a large number of premature births are being experienced.
‘‘So our next knitting project will be making smaller woollen items for prem babies.’’
