Hospice volunteers knit comfort
Shawl ministry program brings solace to patients
By Briana Hovendick



March 15, 2007
The shawls don't start as much more than a few rows of stitches, but the end product offers comfort to hospice patients and their families.

Exempla Lutheran's Collier Hospice Center in Wheat Ridge recently started a shawl ministry program in which volunteers and staff members gather to knit prayer shawls for patients. The program started when Mary Durbin-Shopnitz, a knitter from Arvada, made several shawls for hospice patients, said Barb Kamlet, the hospice center's volunteer program coordinator.

Kamlet asked Durbin-Shopnitz to teach volunteers and staff to knit their own prayer shawls. So far, more than a dozen people, many of whom are first-time knitters, have come together to work on shawls, and Kamlet hopes more knitters from the community will eventually join them for monthly knitting sessions, she said.

"It fosters a community for staff and volunteers," Kamlet said.

On Monday, March 12, a group of beginning knitters sat in a circle at the hospice center, hunched over their knitting. They laughed at their clumsy stitches and chatted as Durbin-Shopnitz assisted and encouraged them. Two female theology students in Connecticut created the prayer shawl ministry in 1998, Durbin-Shopnitz said. Knitters begin each shawl with prayers for the recipient, and each shawl is created with good thoughts and blessings for the patient who will eventually receive it, she said.

On Monday, March 12, a group of beginning knitters sat in a circle at the hospice center, hunched over their knitting. They laughed at their clumsy stitches and chatted as Durbin-Shopnitz assisted and encouraged them. Two female theology students in Connecticut created the prayer shawl ministry in 1998 [www.shawlministry.com], Durbin-Shopnitz said. Knitters begin each shawl with prayers for the recipient, and each shawl is created with good thoughts and blessings for the patient who will eventually receive it, she said.

Durbin-Shopnitz, a retired schoolteacher, learned about the shawl ministry when she was searching for a charity knitting program, she said. She's been knitting for 48 years and both of her parents and her in-laws went through hospice care, she said.

"I just appreciate being able to give back to hospice and share my love of knitting," Durbin-Shopnitz said.

The shawls are stitched in groups of three knit and three purl stitches, which incorporates the significance of the number three in several world religious traditions, Kamlet said. Once a knitter gets the stitch count and tension right, making the shawls is easy, she said.

"There's this amazing rhythm to it," Kamlet said.

Hospice nurses give the finished shawls to patients, complete with an inspirational message offering comfort. One of the first shawl recipients wept when she got the gift, Kamlet said.

Pam Lowe, a hospice volunteer who knitted for the first time this week, said she was willing to give it a try because of how she feels about the hospice center and its patients.

"I love this place," Lowe said. "It all fits together."


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