Who would have thought that crocheted necklaces would become such a fashion craze? For five months, though, that’s exactly what some women at First Presbyterian Church of Albemarle have discovered, and they can’t keep up with the demand.
It all began when Joyce Lambert heard about the Formula for Life project in Mwandi, Zambia. For several years, First Presbyterian Church has had a sister relationship with the mission school and hospital in Mwandi, and the church has sent several mission groups there to help with various building projects.
Like most sub-Saharan countries in Africa, Mwandi suffers from a high incidence of HIV/AIDS. Many infants are born to HIV-positive mothers. If infants are HIV-hegative at birth, they need to be placed on infant formula rather than their mothers’ breast milk in order to prevent the transfer of the HIV virus.
Ida Waddell a resident missionary in Mwandi, is head of the AIDS Relief Project in the area. She was determined to help the HIC-negative babies and thus began an infant formula project, Formula for Life, even though the AIDS Relief Project would not pay for it. It only costs about a dollar a day for each infant on formula, but who was going to pay for the formula?
Ida trusted that the money would come.
And that’s where Joyce entered the picture. She heard about a crocheted necklance project that the First Presbyterian Church of Aiken, SC, had created to help with the infant formula project. She brought one of the necklaces back to the Albemarle church, and in no time, Mary Louise Sawyer had agreed to head up a little band of women, and a new necklace ministry was founded at the Albemarle church.
Since early February 2012, a group of women at FPC have made and sold more than $10,000 worth of necklaces from specialty yarns.
These necklaces are surprisingly simple, attractive and very affordable. The group of women has grown, and so has the inventory of necklaces with almost 30 different varieties now being sold.
The project has struck a chord with people well beyond the community and our county. People are giving them to out-of-town relatives and friends, and those relatives and friends are then ordering necklaces to give to their relatives and friends.
One member who is spending the summer in New Mexico is even crocheting and selling them out there.
Women seem to appreciate wearing this symbol of solidarity with mothers in a faraway place who are struggling to provide hope and a future for their children.
As one member says, “The Holy Spirit guides our ministry.”
And that little band of women is quit literally saving lives, one necklace at a time.
For more information, go to the church website at www.firstpresalbemarle.org and click on “Necklace Ministry” or call the church office at 704-982-2722.