Knitters unite for Hurricane Sandy relief

When the Debbie Davis, owner of The Fibre Studio at Yarns to Dye For in the SouthPark area, asked customers and co-workers to help victims of Hurricane Sandy, the response was immediate.

“I am always amazed by the generosity of artisans,” Davis said.

Within a few weeks, a huge box of clothing was ready to be shipped to the Church of Saint Paul and Saint Andrew in New York City.

“I put out a message on Facebook and through an email that we were collecting to send out for Hurricane Sandy relief, and I immediately got people calling in and bringing items in,” said Davis, 57, of Charlotte. “There are a few (people) who are in between jobs right now … one of them has brought in at least 20 crocheted hats.”

Davis ticked off the items that were either donated or freshly made: 58 crocheted hats; 31 knitted scarves; 12 crocheted scarves; four sweaters; three baby blankets; and two cowls.

The idea originated with employee Ann Davis, who is not related to the store’s owner.

“I told Debbie that I thought it would be great if we contacted all our customers and said, ‘Let’s make a gift from the heart,’ ” Ann Davis said. “Every knitter has excess yarn that’s referred to as the ‘stash.’ So I said, ‘Let’s ask our customers to dig deep in their stash and come up with some interesting scarves, hats and mittens, and let’s send them off to New York.’ ”

Ann Davis talked about the store’s efforts with her husband, Floyd Davis. The two have 30 years’ experience working with nonprofits.

Floyd Davis is CEO of local nonprofit Community Link, which enables individuals and families to obtain and sustain safe, decent and affordable housing. He arranged to have Community Link pick up the tab for shipping the items.

“When I heard from my wife what Fibre Studio was doing, it interested me, so I said, ‘Well, this is a role that my organization can play to get items to those folks who were impacted by Hurricane Sandy.’ Seeing the reports on the news and the plight of those folks in that part of the country – and also I worked in that part of the country before, myself – it just seemed like a natural thing for us to do to assist in them getting these items.”

Davis said he called some of the major organizations that provide assistance in disasters, “but they are interested only in financial resources to help. So I said, ‘Hey, then we’re going to take care of this.’ ”

The New York church was thrilled to get news of the help. Maria Porto, who volunteers with the church, said “the whole church thinks it’s an extremely generous donation. … Every little bit helps.”