TYLER, Texas (ABP) — Residents at a Texas Baptist home for adults with special needs are using their skills to help meet the needs of others — in this case, Eastern European orphans.
Three residents of Breckenridge Village of Tyler, Texas, recently delivered 175 knitted caps to Children’s Emergency Relief International (CERI) to be given to orphans in Eastern Europe during the organization’s Operation Cross the River Christmas mission.
Breckenridge Village residents Anne Marie, Laci and Brynne delivered 175 handmade winter hats to Children’s Emergency Relief International Executive Director Dearing Garner, to be used in the organization’s Operation Cross the River mission.
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Breckenridge Village is a faith-based residential community for adults with mild to moderate cognitive or developmental disorders.
Eight residents began knitting the winter hats in January under the direction of Diane Stone. The three residents who knitted the most hats delivered their handiwork to CERI staff in Houston. Both Breckenridge Village and CERI are ministries of Baptist Child & Family Services.
“It made my heart feel so good to send a little piece of love to someone in need,” said Anne Marie, a Breckenridge resident who helped deliver the winter hats.
Parents and members of the Breckenridge Village Women’s Auxiliary donated money, yarn and knitting looms to make the project possible. Although it was the residents’ first year to contribute to the mission, program directors at Breckenridge Village expect it to become an annual project.
“The women would ask every day when we could get back to knitting. They loved doing something for others,” Stone said.
Each December, CERI alternates between the Eastern European countries of Moldova and Transnistria to lead mission teams that distribute warm winter shoes, socks, hats and scarves to orphans. This year, Operation Cross the River will take place December 4-20 and will involve 10 volunteers from churches in Texas, West Virginia, Alabama and Virginia.
CERI has ordered 2,700 pairs of winter boots for this year’s mission. Volunteers across the country have been working since January to ensure that each child receives new boots and socks along with knit caps and scarves.
Shoe missions to Moldova began in 1999 among orphans throughout the country. Since then, CERI has provided more than 80,000 new winter boots and socks to protect the country’s most vulnerable.
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Haley Smith writes for Baptist Child & Family Services.