Boulder – Surrounded by bright strands of yarn as their little fingers knitted, 10-year-old Sheila Ghorbani-Elizeh and her classmates focused on giving strangers in a far-off country something to warm their heads and hearts.
A growing pile of multicolored caps knitted by Sheila and a few dozen other fourth-graders at Boulder Community School of Integrated Studies is the kids’ contribution to “Knitzvah” – more than just a play on the word mitzvah, which can be interpreted as a good deed.
Knitzvah is a mission of Boulder-area Jewish residents to knit caps for impoverished chemotherapy patients and elderly Jews in communities with struggling economies in Argentina, Israel and parts of the former Soviet Union.
“It’s for poor people who have cancer who don’t have hair, and babies, in Argentina,” Sheila said, never diverting her eyes from the knitting needles in her hands. “It feels good to help people whose parents can’t afford to buy hats.”
Knitzvah was started two years ago by members of the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado Boulder Women’s Center as a way to bring Jewish women in the community together once a month to socialize while knitting for a good cause.
The project has donated about 200 hats to those in need and plans to deliver another shipment around Valentine’s Day through Project Valentine of Denver, which adds the knitted caps to care packages for cancer patients, said Cheryl Fellows of Boulder, who came up with the Knitzvah idea.
Recently, the project has spread to other Jewish organizations in the community, including fourth-graders at the Boulder Community School who already had been learning to knit since the second grade.
“This has gotten many of the women in our loose group to start knitting again, while bringing kids into to the mix,” Fellows said. “For everyone involved, knitting is very relaxing and even meditative. Plus, the children learn the importance of charitable acts.”
The students at the Boulder Community School were assigned to knit at least one hat this year, but some have already knitted four or five in the past few months.
Some of the students take their caps home and, while knitting for part of a class period, can finish a cap in two to three weeks.
Eden Paller, 10, was working on her second cap, a pink and purple hat, and kept in mind that she was doing a good deed.
“I want to keep heads warm,” she said. “Because if their heads get cold, they could get sick or sicker.”
The colorful caps have in the past been hand-delivered by women in the organization, including Dvora Kanegis, a Boulder artist who also designed tags for caps that carry the message: “This warm fuzzy was made for you … with Love.”
“It’s amazing how this project has taken off in the community,” Kanegis said. “And it’s wonderful to see women of all ages and children sit together and knit while connecting with people in need.”
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-820-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com.
