Residents at a Swansea aged care home have knitted more than 1,050 squares for the ABC Rug Up Tassie Winter Appeal, smashing their original target of 1,000.
The group from Celebrate Health Care’s May Shaw facility set themselves the ambitious goal at the end of winter last year after contributing about 100 squares to the 2025 appeal.
The squares will now be sent to Hobart, where they will be sewn together into blankets for Tasmanians doing it tough this winter.
Amanda McConnon, leisure and lifestyle coordinator at May Shaw, said the group wanted to push themselves this year.
“We thought, let’s do a challenge this year and see if we could do 1,000 squares for the homeless,” she told Pulse.
Every Tuesday afternoon, residents, staff, family members and friends gathered in the activity room with knitting needles in hand.
The final tally came in at 1,053 squares.
She said the project had delivered benefits well beyond the blankets themselves.
“It’s just been a great experience for everybody, like, just for hand and eye coordination, just new friendships,” she said.
“Some of the residents actually taught staff members to knit for the first time.”
McConnon said the project also sparked plenty of storytelling and brought the wider community closer to the facility.
Community members donated the wool used in the project, which McConnon said meant a great deal.
“It means a lot for that to be able to happen through not having to, you know, put your hand in your pocket and fork out and buy the wool yourself,” she said.
Celebrate Health Care said the achievement reflected the generosity and dedication within its May Shaw community.
“It is a remarkable achievement and a wonderful example of the generosity, compassion and dedication that exists within our May Shaw community,” the organisation said.
