Six Sisters of Charity of Nazareth are using yarn, crochet hooks and knitting needles to help protect clean drinking water for families around the world, but they need your help! Donations may be dropped off at the front desk of O’Connell Hall on the Nazareth campus, details below.
Recently, six Sisters of Charity of Nazareth gathered around a table, surrounded by colorful yarn, crochet hooks and knitting needles. While they enjoyed spending time together, it was a rare opportunity to work side by side. Most days, Sisters Paschal Maria Fernicola, Brenda Gonzales, Barbara Joseph Lammers, Rosemarie Kirwan and Anne Magruder quietly crochet protective sleeves for portable water filters from their own rooms. Sister Joan Robishaw spends her time knitting hats, mittens and scarves for people in need. (Pictured left to right.)
Together, their handiwork reaches people they will likely never meet.
For the Sisters, this ministry is a simple way to use the gifts they have been given. A few quiet moments with yarn and a crochet hook become a practical way to help families gain access to one of life’s most basic needs: clean, safe drinking water.
The crocheted sleeves, affectionately called “socks,” protect portable water filters used by Water by Women in communities around the world. The sleeves shield the filters from damage caused by daily use, helping them last longer in places where replacing one may not be possible. Each filter can provide clean drinking water for three families, making every protective sleeve another way these Sisters help preserve a resource that saves lives.
“We’re making armor for water filters,” Sister Brenda said with a smile.
The Sisters have been making the sleeves for years. Together, they estimate they have crocheted thousands of protective sleeves. For many of them, it has become part of their daily routine.
Sister Anne crochets one every day. “It’s important to me,” she said. “I make one a day.”
The work fits naturally into everyday life. “It takes me about 45 minutes to make one of these,” Sister Rosemarie said. “It’s something you can do while you’re watching the news.”
Although each protective sleeve takes less than an hour to complete, its impact reaches far beyond Nazareth. The sleeves accompany water filters used in communities around the world and have even been part of disaster relief efforts in the United States.
The Sisters’ ministry extends beyond the protective sleeves. Sister Joan knits hats, mittens and scarves, while others in the group also make baby hats, blankets and other handmade items for hospitals and organizations serving families in Kentucky. Whether helping a newborn, keeping someone warm during the winter or protecting a water filter that provides clean drinking water, each project begins with the same desire to put their gifts to use for others.
It is easy to overlook something as simple as a crocheted sleeve. Yet each one helps protect a water filter that may provide clean drinking water for three families. Stitch by stitch, these Sisters are helping extend the life of a simple tool that can improve health and save lives.
How You Can Help
The Sisters would be grateful for donations of yarn so they can continue this ministry. The Sisters have relied on donated yarn for years, but those supplies have dwindled. New donations will allow them to continue making protective sleeves and other handmade items for people in need.
They are looking for:
- Worsted weight acrylic or cotton yarn
- Bright or variegated colors
Please avoid black, white, and other dark colors, which are more difficult to work with.
Yarn donations may be dropped off at the front desk of O’Connell Hall on the Nazareth campus or mailed to:
Sister Brenda Gonzales
P.O. Box 3000
Nazareth, KY 40048
If you knit or crochet, you can also visit the Water by Women website to learn more about the project and download the pattern for the protective sleeves.
Sometimes the most meaningful ministries begin with ordinary things: a ball of yarn, a crochet hook, and a willing pair of hands. For these Sisters, each stitch is another opportunity to care for someone they may never meet, but whose life could be changed by something made with love at Nazareth.