YOUNG PEOPLE IN APPLETON WISCONSIN SEND HATS TO RUSSIAN CHILDREN

Students at Horizons Elementary School in Appleton, Wisconsin are learning they have the power to make a difference in the world. Their art teacher, Terri Westby taught the students to knit so they can make hats for children in hospitals and orphanages in Kurgan, Russia.

“Westby began offering basic knitting lessons during lunch hours a couple times a week, and students who caught the fever are still at it. They started out making bracelets for themselves, and then moved on to the hats. Some even work on the projects at home and have completed up to a dozen hats during the school year.”

The hats are delivered to Kurgan by delegations that go there as part of the Fox Cities Sister City program or are taken back to Russia with delegations in the US. A delegation visiting Kurgan recently delivered 200 hats to the small village of Shchuchye and to a maternity hospital in Kurgan.

"Now those gifts are giving friendship rather than giving for need. Economically things are going very well by Russian standards. It's still one of the poorest regions in Russia, but it has changed enough that (the hats) are a gift of friendship."

When the school project was launched a few years ago, Westby was purchasing the yarn. As more people have learned about it, yarn donations have kept the group in good supply.

To make a donation to the knitting project at Horizons Elementary School, contact Terri Westby at 920-832-4600. To learn more about the Fox Cities Sister City program, http://foxcitieskurgan.org/involved.html.