The generosity of others

never ceases to surprise me.
Yesterday I had an email from a yarn company. Attached to it were two gift vouchers to be used to buy yarn for a small group of young people who knit for others.
I do not, at their request, say much about these young people. All of them have serious health issues and disabilities. More than a decade ago they were taught to knit by a friend of mine who lived permanently in a hospital. She wanted to give them something to do while they too were in hospital. I became involved when she sought more yarn and more "things to read" from me for them. 
I met these then very young people. They were at the stage where they could knit very simple things and wanted to know what they could make for other people.
By then other knitters had heard of my friend. They sent her knitting magazines and yarn. She made all sorts of things but her socks were legendary and much sought after by surgeons who spend hours on their feet. 
The young knitters thought they could never aim that high - but they could improve. I began to help with their knitting and with helping them keep up with their schoolwork.
When my friend died they asked me to go on helping them. It has been an enormous pleasure to do that. These young people are all at university now, trying to pursue their dreams despite their difficulties.
They don't get out much so they knit. Occasionally they get together in the home of one family which has the space and the access for all of them together. Over the years they have managed to learn a great deal more. They are accomplished knitters now. They can follow patterns, alter patterns, and try new ideas and techniques with a great deal of enthusiasm.
But this year has been really hard. They lost one of their friends in circumstances I cannot talk about. They are missing him badly. Their  health issues mean they simply cannot risk going to classes even if the other students go back. They can do some course work but they can't do it all. It has all been devastating for them.
Enter a very, very good friend to all of us. M.... cannot afford to do this. I know she cannot afford to do this but there were the two vouchers.
I called the mother of one of them. She was as shocked as I was.  
Wisely spent there is potentially several months of knitting there for the four who are left - two boys, two girls. 
We had already discussed what they might make this year - make for others. That is what they have always wanted to do. They can't get out and volunteer the way some young people do. They can't play sport. None of them can drive so they are dependent on their parents. They have some friends but those friends all too often do what they cannot do - a Friday or Saturday night out takes planning for them and things are warming up just as they feel the need to go to bed. So, they have chosen another option - to create something for others. 
Their mothers have scoured the charity shops for yarn - as have I. Friends like M... and H.... have helped. Another friend, now sadly no longer with us, worked for a knitting magazine and she helped immensely. She was also the person who got me the job of reviewing books. There is a wonderful company in England and they, on learning that the then teens were knitting chemo caps, sent out a lot of left over bits and pieces they could not sell. The postage must have cost them quite a bit. Every scrap of yarn has been used.
And this time they will have wonderful new yarn that can be made up into warm garments for those in need.
It is a gift that will spread out beyond the giver and the immediate recipients to those in need - and those who need to be shown what can be done.
M.... I know you read this blog. Thank you.