Did you know we need volunteer knitters?

Did you know a small team of dedicated volunteer fiber artists create the beautiful handmade scarves, headbands, fingerless gloves, alpaca key chains, mobiles, and more that we sell in Linden Leaf Gifts at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods?

Last summer brought many exciting changes to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, including the opening of the new Shrine of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin. With it was the debut of the new Linden Leaf Gifts, a wonderful space to find unique items handmade by local artisans and a variety of fair-trade items. It is also now home to White Violet Center for Eco-Justice’s fiber arts items, many made from our very own alpacas.

Since moving White Violet Center’s fiber items to Linden Leaf Gifts, sales have gone through the roof!

Our hardworking volunteers make us proud. One volunteer, Janice Dukes, is a retired faculty member from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. She has been a crocheting machine! A lovely band of women from Corpus Christi, Texas, make an abundance of artfully crafted scarves. And of course, our sister volunteers stay hard at work. Sisters Jean Fuqua, Rose Ann Eaton and Joan Kirkpatrick among them.

Do you knit or crochet? Would you like to work with alpaca yarn as a volunteer? We would love to talk with you. Please contact Candace Minster, White Violet Center fiber arts coordinator, at 812-535-2933 or cminster@spsmw.org.

(Originally published in the Summer 2015 issue of HOPE magazine.)