JOAN Chapple, Ruth McQuienn and Barbara Pitman have spent more than 350 hours knitting jumpers for babies on the other side of the globe.
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The Baranduda women are part of a group of 18 volunteers who have been stitching away their days for children they will never meet.
The 70-plus jumpers they made have just been bundled with a further 190 winter warmers and shipped to Africa.
The jumpers will be used to keep babies born with AIDS warm.
The Baranduda Community Centre inspired the group of knitters to help break a target of 250 jumpers in 12 weeks.
“When I heard that some babies are sent home wrapped in newspaper the project really caught my attention — it pulled at my heart,” Mrs McQuienn said.
“All babies are important, regardless of culture, creed or colour,” Ms Pitman said.
The centre’s contribution of 260 tiny knits will join more than 630,000 sent to African countries in the past two years as part of a global knitting initiative.
The program was started by Melbourne couple Ken and Lyn Begley.
But there are no tired hands at the Baranduda centre, which already has a new knitting project.
This time they will stitch for children in the Caucasus as part of the Angel Knitting Program.
The Caucasus is a region that lies between Europe and Asia, and comprises of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and part of Southern Russia.
The centre aims to knit 50 scarves, hats and beanies for the combined World Vision and Guardian Pharmacy initiative by the end of this winter.
Anyone who wants to help can contact Lynda Paterson at the Baranduda centre on (02) 6020 8643.
