Local Woman Knitting Scarves for Children in Need

Celeste Cabral is on a mission to give to local children in need. "My dream is to get enough people to knit and donate scarves so that during the week before Thanksgiving, I can go to an area school and give each child in the entire school a scarf."

She first started this endeavor back in January of 2017. Retired, she started knitting and soon found herself with 30 scarves and didn't know what to do with them. One morning she woke up and knew that she wanted to give back to children in need. "Never being able to have children myself, my heart has always held a special place for them and all children should be wrapped in love and warm in the winter months."

Friends pledged to help her knit the scarves and donate, but it wasn't long before complete strangers got involved. Cabral has knitters from Rehoboth all the way to Cape Cod. She documents the progress on her Facebook page, Wrapped in Love - The Scarf Event. In the first year, Cabral was able to donate 800 scarves to two schools. Her dream goal is to be able to give to a BIG school and give back to the WHOLE school.

Cabral is kicking off her third year with this project and wanted to share a story with her supporters.

Last year when I spoke with this little girl, all she wanted was a pink scarf. I draped it around her neck and told her she looked absolutely beautiful. And to my surprise, she looked up at me with a serious face and said, "No one has ever said that I was beautiful." She then hugged me and said, "thank you." I told her again to never ever forget how beautiful she is. Holding back my tears, I continued to hand out the scarves to the other children. Til the day I die, I will never forget that little girl. Not only because of what she said to me but for the beautiful smile she had on her face as she walked out the door and waved goodbye. Meeting children like her motivates me to continue this journey of love and kindness that all children deserve. - Celeste Cabral

If you would like to help by donating your own work, Celeste has some guidelines to make it easy for everyone. All scarves should be five to six inches wide and 45 inches long. You may drop them off at the Freetown Senior Center in Freetown, or Sun Kissed Tanning in New Bedford.

To arrange for a pickup, please call Celeste at (774) 644-3176. Follow Wrapped in Love - The Scarf Event on Facebook for information on knitting lessons.