Sitting, knitting and weeping – all for a soldier's charity
Ann Embra knits up a storm for a soldier's knitting charity.
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Updated: November 04, 2009 3:38 PM
Of all the ways to spend Remembrance Day, knitting a woolen hat probably isn't on the top of everyone's list.
But that's exactly what Ann Umbra plans to do.
Well, more like sitting and knitting. And weeping.
It's her way of helping Canadian soldiers who are currently deployed overseas in one of the most important, and dangerous, missions they've ever undertaken – working for peace in a region that's suffered decades of violence and war.
The Boomer Hats program is a humanitarian effort aimed at honouring the service and sacrifice of a young medic from the Comox Valley who was killed when his convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber.
Corporal Andrew "Boomer" Eykelenboom, of the Edmonton-based 1st Field Ambulance was the 26th Canadian to die in the conflict.
Before his death, as Boomer and his comrades went from village to village during various missions, they gave out woolen hats knitted by his mother, Maureen Eykelenboom.
Since then, 4,500 hats have been knitted or crocheted by Canadian volunteers for distribution to babies and children in Afghanistan by armed forces members serving overseas.
Embra, an avid knitter, learned about the program through her wool supplier, Lynne Andersen of Knitopia Wools Company in Langley. She says it's a tangible way for service men and women to show the Afghan people that Canadians care.
She notes the garments are designed to be culturally-sensitive.
On Nov. 11, Embra and Andersen will be on hand at the Surrey Museum and Archives during Remembrance Day activities planned for 9:30 a.m.to 12:30 p.m., raising awareness about the Boomer Hats program, and honouring the memory of a young man who died too young, while doing his best to help people.
They won't be teaching anyone how to knit, but they will be encouraging others to find out how to get involved in the program.
Anderson has been supplying local knitters who want to donate handmade garments to the Boomer Hats program with wool, and collecting the finished hats, blankets, and sweaters – between 200 to 300 garments and counting – to send to "Boomer's" mom.
"This is something I can do to make people I love a little safer," says Andersen, who has several family members in the Canadian Armed Forces, including a niece and two nephews.
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