Saturday at The Knitting Nest was a great day. Not because I was there – I was actually at home with a migraine. Not even because of the tractor pull on Main Street, although Patrick tells me that I missed some great small-town Wisconsin fun. It wasn’t even great because we sold yarn, although Patrick did have several customers, which is always nice for a retail shop.
Saturday was great at The Knitting Nest because we got to be part of something bigger and more important than selling yarn (or even the tractor pull). It started when Brandy, a friend and customer of The Knitting Nest, posted on Facebook that she needed a bunch of red embroidery floss for a project that one of the Girl Scouts in one of her troops is doing to help prevent bullying. Girls are going to make friendship bracelets to give away while encouraging other girls to “be friends, not bullies”.
Patrick thought this was a great project, so he offered to purchase the embroidery floss at our wholesale cost and donate a couple of boxes to the project. He then posted on our Facebook page that people could purchase the embroidery floss from us at our cost and we would get it to Brandy for her project. By the end of Saturday, The Knitting Nest had purchased 13 boxes of red embroidery floss for this project.
Thirteen boxes of 24 skeins of floss is only 312 skeins out of 1600 skeins needed, so we only donated 20% of the total for this project. But, that is 312 skeins that weren’t donated before Saturday morning.
Why am I telling you this? To shout about how great The Knitting Nest is? No. You already know that! My reason for sharing this story is to point out the importance of community brick-and-mortar retail shops. The people who participated in this event are part of our community, just like the people who made chemo caps last month for our knit-a-long.
Community retail shops are invaluable parts of the local economy, but they are also part of the volunteer and charity work of the community. The next time you stop in at your local coffee shop or other small business, look around; you’ll probably find that they are promoting one or more community and/or charity events or projects. Supporting local businesses means more to your town or city than just a skein of yarn or cup of coffee – it’s being part of your community’s life.
Saturday was an AWESOME day at the Knitting Nest! I am so thankful for your kindness and efforts, and I can tell you, by doing this, you raised so many spirits and filled us with hope and joy! Thank you for encouraging us so we can encourage others!
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