December meeting

Many thanks to all the members who brought good stuff to the meeting. That includes delicious food for the potlucks, adorable dressed bears, raffle items, women's shelter donations, and supplies for the centerpieces. As always, the central activity of the December meeting (besides eating and socializing) is the presentation of the trauma bears to the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy, which has offices in both Fulton and Dekalb counties.


The Center provides counseling services to the children as well as aiding law enforcement by conducting the interviews necessary to secure the evidence needed to bring convictions. These are children who have suffered an assault (often sexual) or who have been witnesses to a violent crime, such as a rape or murder. After the interview, the child is given a trauma bear. Many of these children come from destitute backgrounds and are not accustomed to having toys of their own. Our designer of teddy bears extraordinaire, Jean Guneysu, presented 170 bears to Senior Psychotherapist Sally Horan (photo above). Jean loves knitting bear outfits and is responsible for dressing a significant fraction of what the guild gives. This year Jean contributed more than half of the total. Thank you to all the members who contributed to this worthy cause through donating a new bear and/or dressing a bear, but an especially big thank you to Jean for consistently donating her time and creativity to this heartbreaking, worthy cause.

And because the bears are cute, here are more pictures of bears:



As we move into the new year, remember that a bear can be a great way to use up scrap yarn or to try out a new technique without over-committing yourself. There are several books and patterns in our guild library that can help you dress a bear. Also, we currently intend to have a table at Stitches South so that attendees can donate a bear.