Operation Cover-up has transformed hundreds of donated knitted and crocheted squares into colourful rugs for older residents across Harden-Murrumburrah. Photo: Murrumburrah-Harden Rotary Club Facebook.
A passing comment about keeping warm during a chilly Rotary meeting has grown into a community-wide project delivering handmade rugs and a personal touch to older residents across the twin towns of Harden and Murrumburrah.
Murrumburrah Harden Rotary Club’s Operation Cover-up began after Rotarian Rita O’Connor joked that members needed rugs to wrap around their knees while meeting at the town’s former courthouse.
The idea stayed with her after she returned home.
Mrs O’Connor began thinking about her late father’s time in residential aged care and the loneliness experienced by some residents who received few, if any, visitors.
While her father had regular visits and plenty of personal belongings around him, she remembered other residents who rarely left the facility or had someone arrive with a coffee or small gift.
“Nursing homes are quite devoid of that personal touch,” she said.
“I went home and thought about it and thought, you know what, I reckon we could actually do this.”
Despite describing herself as a non-knitter, Mrs O’Connor, with the help of her grandson, created a poster asking people to donate knitted or crocheted squares and shared it on social media in late May.
The response surprised even the project’s organisers.
Within two months, hundreds of squares, strips, blankets and balls of wool had been donated by people in Harden and Murrumburrah and surrounding towns, as well as contributors from Adelaide and Melbourne.
Some donations arrived by post, while others were left in baskets or bags at the Rotary Book Nook.
People stopped Mrs O’Connor in the street, contacted her online or quietly dropped off boxes of wool to help volunteers sew the squares together.
“We have literally had hundreds and hundreds of squares knitted and crocheted and sent to us,” she said.
The club has so far delivered 42 rugs, ranging from 16-square lap blankets to single-bed versions made from about 60 squares.
With enough donated pieces still piled up to produce another 10 to 20, Operation Cover-up is showing no sign of running out of wool – or goodwill.
Mrs O’Connor said the project quickly became a collective effort involving Rotarians, Book Nook volunteers and experienced knitters and crocheters.
She’s even becoming quite the dab hand at stitching the squares together – colourblindness and all.
Mrs O’Connor reserved particular praise for Sophie Hipkiss, wife of Rotarian John Hipkiss, who has been transforming the project’s awkwardly sized pieces into finished rugs.
Squares that are too large to combine with the others but too small to stand alone are taken home by Mrs Hipkiss, who adds crocheted borders until they reach a suitable size or joins them with matching colours to create completed blankets.
Another contributor, Lynn Wall, made five single-bed blankets and 10 lap rugs in just seven weeks.
“She said she just had this compulsion to do it because she thought how much an oldie would appreciate a handmade gift that could be passed on to their family,” Mrs O’Connor said.
“She just kept doing it until she ran out of wool.”
The first completed rugs were personally presented to residents at the aged-care facility attached to Harden Hospital.
Mrs O’Connor said the residents initially appeared unsure about the unexpected visit, but their faces changed as the rugs, beanies and berets were laid out for them to choose from.
One woman selected a beret, declaring it would make her look “cool”, before helping a quieter friend choose a pink beanie and a rug that suited her.
Other residents wrapped rugs around their knees or asked for them to be placed directly on their beds.
Mrs O’Connor said the tactile nature of the rugs seemed to appeal to the residents, and it was particularly moving to watch one woman gently run her hand across an especially soft section of wool.
“It wasn’t about us,” she said.
“What it was about was the warmth that it gave – the metaphorical warmth, I guess – because their eyes lit up.”
More rugs have since been delivered to The Grange aged-care facility.
The club is also considering working with Murrumburrah-Harden Flexible Care Services to offer rugs to older residents who continue to live independently and attend its regular social hub.
Mrs O’Connor said many of the people donating squares were themselves in their 70s and 80s, creating a connection between people of similar generations.
Operation Cover-up is the latest in a growing list of notable community projects undertaken by Murrumburrah Harden Rotary Club.
The club is now in the fifth year of its school book-giving program, which allows children to personally choose a new book twice a year.
Supported by Bendigo Bank, the program has this year reached students at Murrumburrah Public School, Murrumburrah High School, Trinity Catholic School, Jugiong Public School, Binalong Public School and Bunyip Preschool, with Wombat Public School to be included later in the year.
About 540 children took part during the first half of the year, with about 640 books purchased to ensure students had a genuine choice.
Mrs O’Connor said the program had helped change the way some students viewed reading, with older pupils now encouraging younger children to select books.
One boy, who initially said he did not read printed books, later told her he intended to keep his Rotary book for his own children because it was the first book he had read, she said.
The club also operates the Book Nook, where donated books are sold for $2.
As well as raising money, the shop provides an accessible place where residents can browse, talk and enjoy a cup of tea.
Its next project will involve making small succulent terrariums in donated cups and containers to give as living gifts.
Mrs O’Connor said Rotary members sometimes greeted her ideas with caution but always found ways to contribute once they saw the community’s response.
“Empowering other people is always the answer,” she said.
For Operation Cover-up, that has meant turning hundreds of handmade pieces into something practical, personal and filled with care.
People wishing to donate knitted squares, completed rugs or wool can contact Murrumburrah Harden Rotary Club through its Facebook page.
Original Article published by Edwina Mason on About Regional.
