Keeping Kids Cozy in 2025
- smladeleslegacy
- Dec 13
- 3 min read
Because of you MAGIC happened in 2025.
Thank you to so many who over the years (more than a decade) have done so much for SML Adele’s Legacy…
This year the bar was raised high and a record set as you exceeded expectations!
On December 3rd we visited Bedford Elementary (grades 2 – 5), Bedford Primary (PreK – 1st) and hats were delivered to Head Start offsite. Over 900 hand knit or crocheted hats were distributed to kids and all staff members at the 2 schools.
December 10th, we visited Sontag Elementary School in Franklin County.... how do you generate exuberant, energetic, enthusiasm in elementary children? Bring hats, sweaters and scarves for all 254 kids and hats for all the grown-ups in the building. And visit on a day when the Santa Store is happening AND school has had 3 snow days and a weekend...AND school is 2 hours late! It was great! Thanks to Dr. Jami Pigg, the PE teacher, who shared the gym on her busiest scheduled day! Thank you to everyone who rolled yarn, donated yarn, knit and crocheted to create this rainbow of colors.
In rounded off simplified math:
Over 1200 hats and over 250 scarves and sweaters were distributed over 2 Wednesdays in December.
If a hat takes 10 hours to create and is conservatively valued at $20…
If a scarf takes 10 hours to create and is conservatively valued at $20…
If a sweater takes 30 hours to create and is conservatively valued at $60…
Then the children and staff at these three schools were wrapped in 22,000 hours of love at a conservative financial gift of $44,000!!!
In 2026 a smaller school in Bedford County will receive hats, scarves, and sweaters. A larger school in Franklin County will receive hats.
Thank yous to:
Sheila and Linda for coordinating and continuing the work started by Adele…
Trinity Ecumenical Parish for providing space…
Lonny for maintaining the website…
SML Women’s Club for its continued support…
Julie & Jenifer for explaining Facebook, answering questions and creating the logo…
Rollers who walked miles over the years putting hanks of yarn into balls…
Those who have donated (worsted weight, machine washable) yarn – especially since the factory which provided miles and miles of yarn closed…
Those – from around the country and locally who knit and crocheted hundreds of hats, sweaters and scarves…
Bedford Public Libraries for transferring yarn & finished items to SML Adele’s Legacy…
The Moneta/SML Library Fiber Club, and the Stewartsville Library Blue Ridge Fiber Gathering for advertising and creating…
Erika at Stitch Witch in Bedford, and Dorothea at Yarn Seasons at Westlake, for holding donations and sharing information…
The committees for NoSo Fiber and Sharp Top Fiber (formerly Bedford Fiber Festival) for providing space and advertising where SML Adele’s Legacy can share their message.
Mike and Ann Ferguson and the Mount Pleasant Lions Club for adding socks to our Sontag Give Away Day… distribution may not happen until January – when Cathy and I can coordinate a transfer. Snow days rearranged our schedules before December 10…
To our school contacts this year…. Laken, Cheryl, Allison, Jamie, Carrie and Cathy – who coordinated and changed schedules and rearranged and readjusted schedules to fit snow days… Ever Flexible 😊
Bedford Elementary School for sponsoring a yarn drive…
Sontag Elementary School for magnificently decorated hallways…
Custodians and Cafeteria staff who moved tables and made adjustments to their schedules to accommodate our need for lots of carts and table space…
Because of ALL OF YOU…. Magic happened in 2025
