Happy Monday, dear T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! Recently, we were asked a great question: Do the underprivileged veterans appreciate the handcrafted nature of the gifts that they receive on their road to recovery and does it matter to them? Simply put, they very much do and it really does matter to these wonderful individuals. The smiles, laughs, and joy that we have experienced from them first-hand at local Stand Down events are a testament to that! From the big reactions on their faces when they realize that these gifts are all handcrafted, to the excitement of getting to choose what style, color, and type of garment that they wished to take with them, we can tell you with certainty that they appreciate the effort and love that is put into every handcrafted hat, scarf, mitten, etc. from T.H.R.I.V.E. and you, all of our dedicated donors! We’ve even had veterans who said that they felt unworthy of such dear gifts. Rest assured that we insisted that they most definitely deserved them and more! Most touchingly, we’ve had many veterans reminisce with us memories of family and friends who had made garments for them. They’ve told us about favorite hats made by their grandmothers, memorable scarves received from Christmases past, and treasured garments given from friends. Most recently, we had a veteran tell us about how his mother would knit him sweaters that he greatly cherished, but that he didn’t ever learn to knit himself. Victoria, our Chief Executive Officer of T.H.R.I.V.E., replied, “I can knit for you now.” Let us all be there for them and happy crafting everyone!
