Jackie Pennoyer
Fort Lee Public Affairs Office
Ask yourself: what would it take to make your community a little bit better?
It is a question Judy Eoff has contemplated frequently in her role as program manager of Fort Lee Army Community Service's Exceptional Family Member Program and in the long stretches of time she spends outside work with her knitting needles.
Supporting Soldiers and families of extraordinary resiliency through medical and military-related struggles is a routine part of her job at EFMP, but she wondered how her team could widen the aperture of support and more directly reach those in need.
The answer came in the form of an inferred request after hand-stitching and personally delivering almost 650 infant-sized hats to local neonatal intensive care units. Staff members, Eoff said, were grateful for the donations, but suggested the hospital's older populations - cancer and dialysis patients fighting for their lives - are among the most marginalized and most forgotten by the outside world.
Inspired to weave this type of philanthropy into her program, Eoff, a lifelong knitter, and her colleague Jessica Naccarato, ACS systems navigator, developed the concept for the Yarn Brigade, a small donation-based project open to any willing community member. The initiative involves teaching volunteers how to knit and crochet, donating handmade items and building relationships with local health care facilities frequented by EFMP families.
Since its launch in September 2017, the project has grown into a major community charity operation with dozens of volunteers and generous outpours of support from local groups and non-profit organizations.
"Yarn brigadiers" have donated thousands of hats, blankets and other gifts to more than 40 organizations, Eoff said, including the Virginia Cancer Institute, six local hospitals, American Heart Association, American Red Cross and Fort Lee's gift-giving initiative Holiday Helper. The project has also gained traction as far as Kentucky and routinely brings every cross-section of an Army community - children, spouses, active-duty servicemembers, retirees and ordinary citizens - together for a good cause.
Sitting together for a couple of hours, repetitively winding yarn through tiny pinched loops, Eoff said, has had a surprisingly profound effect on participants. Volunteer Soldiers and spouses alike have reported finding a sense of community in the Yarn Brigade's bi-monthly meetings through the candid sharing of stories and collective time spent off social media networks.
Grassroots donation group, EFMP outreach channel, community support group, crafting guild and the basis for several new garrison partnerships, the Yarn Brigade has evolved into a program with a multidimensional mission, Eoff said.
But one thing is for certain, she added: a pair of needles and a couple yards of yarn are all you really need to share a piece of humanity with those most eager for support - the direly sick and, as it turns out, us all.
A project for and by the Army
According to Eoff, her first meaningful experience with the possibilities of knitting is integrally linked to the most unlikely of sources: the Army.
As if recounting the details of a little-known legend, Eoff recently wrote in the Yarn Brigade newsletter of her mother's volunteer service to the military. Her mother, she wrote, recycled old sweaters and hand-knitted winter socks for American Soldiers during World War II.
Years later, Eoff self-identifies as an avid knitter and works day-by-day on the front lines at Fort Lee as the leading advocate for military families with special needs.
"The Yarn Brigade started on a whim," she said. "We knew we wanted to do something good. Knitting, crocheting - it's just something we love. We had no idea it would take off like it has."
But according to Eoff, the idea for an EFMP charity project really solidified after Naccarato delivered the 12 boxes - almost 650 - of her handmade hats. Naccarato visited every intensive natal unit with a 50-mile radius of Fort Lee.
"Our hope was to meet with the hospital personnel and tell them who we are and what we do," said Eoff. "And if they ever had a military family with a preemie or any special needs, we asked them to refer the family to us for more support."
Naccarato, who has taken the administrative reigns of the program, recording volunteers' hours, supervising the sessions and working one-on-one with beneficiary organizations and prospective Fort Lee units, said the Yarn Brigade project has required some improvisation and trust in the process.
"It was moments after delivering the hats to the hospitals that we decided to create this initiative," she said. "We didn't know if anyone was going to show or if it would mean anything to people. We just switched gears and got right to work."
Donation project, support group, or both?
Eoff's eyes glazed stiff, drifting her gaze to the window, as she paused for a time, searching for the words to succinctly describe the mission of the Yarn Brigade project.
"This started as an outreach method, a way to get our information out to a population we weren't already reaching. But over time, it has morphed and also turned into a kind of support group," she said. "While people work on their projects, they discuss parenting issues and bereavement struggles."
By opening the group to knitters and anyone willing to learn, regardless of their military affiliation, Naccarato and Eoff have seen the full spectrum of volunteers - Advanced Individual Training students, noncommissioned officers, retired servicemembers, new Army spouses, grade school students, local missionaries and even citizens across states lines - contribute to the initiative. Volunteers range in age between 10 and 70, Naccarato said.
"So many of us want to bring creativity and color into our modern lives," Eoff reflected. "And I think the ability to actually make something for someone else in the company of others, when so much of our day is spent in cyberspace, is incredibly rewarding."
For spouses of retired servicemembers, the program has also emerged as an opportunity to reconnect with the military community and build relationships, according to Christy Headly and Taressa Malotti, former military spouses.
"When you are retired military and don't really have a sense of home, you often end up in a place without any close-by friends," Headly, said. "Most of your connections are through social media. But I have made some amazing friends through this program. I look forward to coming together every week."
The group also makes regular drop-off runs at medical facilities, where they are able to see their functional items go to good use.
"We recently made a donation to the Virginia Cancer Institute," Naccarato said. "And when we went back a few weeks later, we found all the donations gone. We saw people in the waiting room with the blankets and hats we made. It is an indescribable feeling to think something as simple as this can make such a difference in all of our lives."
Bursting at the seams
While the project supports over 40 regional organizations and has a massive annual quota of handmade pieces to supply - a figure Eoff puts in the thousands - the brigade has no shortage of talent and helping hands.
The group reveres a certain "phantom" volunteer, Eoff said. The mystery person makes elaborate baby blankets and hat sets for the donation initiative.
"Despite how much she makes, this volunteer doesn't receive supplies from us or want any recognition," she said. "I think that's pretty exceptional."
Another famed yarn brigadier, a 70-year-old from Kentucky who learned about the program through an online search, is the grandmother of a former AIT student. She also refused to accept supplies and continues to send handmade items through the mail.
Mylee Scruggs, a 10-year-old and by far the program's youngest volunteer, is an active-duty Soldier's daughter at Fort Lee who asked her mother if she could attend the meetings. According to Naccarato, Scruggs has accumulated several service hours and, through her time in the program, learned the art of knitting and crocheting.
Support in the form of money, yarn rolls and other knitting supplies also continue to pour into the organization, Eoff said, but donations of yarn are preferred and always appreciated. The Fort Lee Area Spouses Club, commonly known as FLASC, remains their most generous donor.
How to get involved
Volunteering at the Fort Lee Yarn Brigade is as simple as showing up, Eoff and Naccarato said. The program is open to everyone who knits, crochets or wants to learn. Yarn Brigade staff, however, ask parents to find alternate care for small children. All time used to work on donation projects, including travel time to and from meetings, counts toward official volunteer service.
The Yarn Brigade meets every first and third Friday from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. at ACS, bldg. 9023, 1231 Mahone Ave.
Eoff and Naccarato also host a meetup group called Sip n' Stitch for members looking to gather more regularly. During these meetings, participants can work on Yarn Brigade or personal projects.
Sip n' Stitch meets every second and fourth Thursday from 5 - 7 p.m. at ACS.
Donations of yarn, handmade comfort items and knitting supplies are always welcome. All donations should go directly to ACS front desk staff.
For more on EFMP and the Yarn Brigade, call at (804) 734-6393/7965, stop by ACS, bldg. 9023, or visit www.facebook.com/FortLeeArmyCommunityService.
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