Cozy Knitted Caps

Turning Heads…Spreading Warmth By Shannon Somers-Mueller

A church group makes these cheery, comfy hats and gives them to chemotherapy patients.

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When chemotherapy causes hair loss, Nell Gron and her Marengo, Illinois, church group help patients fight off chills.

About 15 members of the Marengo United Methodist Church Hat Ministry have knitted more than 950 cozy caps in the past four years, donated to patients in seven hospitals.

Nell learned of the need four years ago when her daughter Jerri was being treated for lymphoma. Jerri wore a wig during the day, but ceiling fans and air conditioning made for drafty sleeping. “She called me up one day and wondered if I could make her a hat, like I’d made my grandsons, to wear to bed at night,” Nell recalls.

So Nell picked up her needles and yarn, and soon had knitted 35 hats for her daughter and others in a nearby hospital. Some, like Jerri, wanted the caps for nighttime; others found them more comfortable than wigs for daytime. They told Nell it could be difficult to find practical, affordable hats to warm their heads and lift their spirits.

Nell’s church Bible study group had encouraged each member to adopt a mission, so she enthusiastically continued knitting caps, often completing one in a few hours. But she knew she needed more volunteers.

Knitters Needed

“I literally went around tapping people on the shoulder asking for help,” she says, and got about a half dozen knitters. She wrote out instructions, as well as a cheery note to tuck inside each cap.

At first the knitters used yarn left over from other projects. But as their project grew, word spread and the group received donations of yarn and cash to buy it.

The ministry has rippled out to other churches and a few neighboring communities. Now, with a thick folder of thank-you notes, Nell dreams of seeing the project spread nationally to help others in need.

In the meantime, her group keeps on casting on, spreading color, comfort and cheer.

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