The Boquete Knitters and Quilters,
An Interview with Brandy Gregory
Not only does Buenos Vecinos de Boquete (BVB) provide food each month, but thanks to the Boquete Knitters and Quilters, we are also able to provide blankets, quilts, sweaters booties, and hats. Each of these items is handmade with love and either crocheted, quilted, or knitted. BVB and the Knitters and Quilters are extremely grateful to the Fundacion Pro-Integracion (Handicap Foundation) for allowing them to use the Foundation's space. The knitters even get to store their bins of yarn in the backroom at the Foundation.
There are about two dozen women in the group which includes expats, Panamanian Latinas, and Indigenous Panamanians. There is an equal number of knitters and crocheters with quilters making up a smaller contingent. When they get together for their "knitting and knattering" (chatting) at the Handicap Foundation on Fridays, between 3 – 12 of the group show up. They knit, knatter, and "ooh and ahh" over the group's creations. After the items are finished, Brandy takes everything home. There, she sorts and bags the items for delivery. She tries to make deliveries once a month.
The group got involved with BVB about seven years ago when they were asked to supply quilts or blankets for the babies of the BVB client families. However, the Knitters and Quilters have been a group for 15 years. They consider themselves "a tiny charitable organization that serves our tiniest and neediest neighbors."
How they became this tiny charitable organization is quite a story. The short version is Brandy sent out a notice asking other knitters if they wanted to get together to knit and chat and it evolved from there. They knit more than 1600 items each year. Where do they get their yarn, you wonder? They order it from the US from craft shops (for example, JoAnn Fabrics). Yarn here is very expensive and not of the same quality as that from the US.
These1600 items are not just for BVB families, but they also create for the Centrode Salud Beatriz Kant next door to Romero, the clinic in Palmira (Brandy delivers to both of them), the pediatric cancer ward (chemo caps) in David, Nutre Hogar de Chiriqui (the residential treatment facility for severely malnourished infants and children), and the newborn nursery at the Maternal and Infant hospital in David.
They have also donated things to the Rotary Club Manchichi Project which works to train indigenous women in midwifery. When there was catastrophic flooding in Volcan, they were able to provide a pickup truck full of items for the Red Cross to deliver. Brandy says "basically, when we see need in the local area, we will try to meet that need."
When asked, Brandy said her favorite thing to knit is a blanket because it is mindless which allows her time to chat. One of the group members loves to "crank out sweaters" while another specializes in caps…luckily, between the group members they have several who like to do things others aren't so crazy about and several members like to make all the various items.
Brandy has been knitting about 20 years and doesn't remember how she got started, other than "it seemed like a good idea at the time." She did not become involved in charity knitting until she moved to Panama.
Brandy was asked why she knits for others. Her response was "My personal reason: When I learned, 15 years ago, that very often the Indigenous mothers brought their newborns in for their first checkups WRAPPED IN NEWSPAPER, I vowed to my God that 'they may come in wrapped in newspaper, but I'm going to do all that I can to send them home wrapped in something soft and warm and made with love.' And I believe, down to my toenails, that our gifts have literally saved the lives of some of those babies. And that this is why God brought me to Panama."
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