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Today's Christian, November/December 2001
Lorna Smith
A gift of warmth
Linda Owen
Since 1995, Lorna Smith has crocheted over 4,000 hats. Among the recipients of her hats are newborns and people who lose hair during chemotherapy. She has also sent her colorful creations to homeless shelters, disaster relief agencies, churches, nursing homes, and schools in the United States and Bosnia.
Smith can complete a hat in 90 minutes, even while riding on tour buses with her husband, Ken. She totes her yarn bag everywhere, including weekday gatherings at the Smiths' home church, Chapel Hill United Methodist Church in San Antonio, Texas.
She discovered her ministry in 1990 while teaching a friend how to crochet as therapy for her arthritic hands. When the two women heard about a need for warm clothing on an Indian reservation in New Mexico, they made 75 hats. Then, crocheting alone, Smith shipped 450 hats to Cal Farley Boys Ranch in Amarillo.
When Smith received a thank-you letter from a young recipient at the ranch that said, "It's snowing here. I'm going to a ballgame and the hat will keep me warm," she realized her personal ministry had been defined.
In recent years Smith has concentrated on Christ-centered ministries for children, such as St. Jude's Ranch for distressed and abused children in Nevada. She also knitted 100 caps for Windham United Methodist Church to distribute to elementary children in economically-depressed Windham, Ohio.
Mirian Garrett, who participated in WUMC's mission project, recently sent Smith a big batch of yarn. "It's a wonderful ministry," Garret says. "When it's winter, the children are excited to have a hat to wear during recess."
Smith, 75, vows to crochet as long as someone needs warm clothing. After all, "Serving Christ in this way gives me a warm feeling," she says.
Copyright © 2001 by the author or Christianity Today International/Today's Christian magazine (formerly Christian Reader).
Click here for reprint information.
November/December 2001, Vol. 39, No. 6, Page 55
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