Since August 2024, a bunch of knitters and crocheters around the diocese have worked on hats for Bright Lights Ministry, serving our neighbors near St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Center City.
The ministry is inspired by a story heard in a taxi: A woman, unhoused, received a brightly colored hat/mitten set one Christmas Eve after a meal served to her. She recounted how much that brightly-colored hat meant to her; that wearing it she felt seen, warmed, loved, and acknowledged. The Rev. Jeannie Sachs, a deacon in the diocese, has been coordinating the effort with knitting meet-ups (see below).
Sachs had a goal of 50 hats. To date, they have receieved more than 70 and there is still some to collect.
Participating parishes:
- Holy Nativity Rockledge
- St. Paul’s Elkins Park
- St. Thomas Whitemarsh
- Redemption Church
- St. Peter’s Glenside
- St. Luke’s Newtown
…and a handful of out-of-town friends who mailed hats.
The group has two more meet-ups for knitting which will happen at Stitch Central, Glenside—November 13th and December 11th, 2-3pm.
