Wrapped in prayer
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on December 17, 2015 2:12 PM
GRANTHAM -- Every Tuesday since September 2011, a group of roughly a dozen women gather at Falling Creek United Methodist Church for one purpose -- to make prayer shawls for those in need.
To date, the group has made and sent 329 prayer shawls, as well as 399 toboggans to help people keep warm in the winter.
The toboggans are only made during the holiday season, and are made of the excess yarn not used to make shawls. A prayer shawl stems from Judeo-Christian traditions where a rectangular blanket-like shawl is made of yarn and represents being wrapped in the warmth and care of those that made it for you.
"We don't put any special powers in our prayer shawls or anything like that," said Nina Pennington, a member of the group. "It's just to let people who are struggling know that there are people thinking of them and it is a representation of our love."
The shawls have been sent far and wide, to places like Texas, Florida, Ohio and even Canada.
When a shawl is completed, the women will pray over it during their group session before putting it on the altar of the church on the Sunday of the week it is finished and letting the entire church congregation pray over it.
The women pay for the materials out of their own pockets, and never turn down a request for a shawl.
And the reason they are so willing to volunteer their own time and funds to make the prayer shawls is because all of the stories -- from cancer patients to people dragged down by daily life -- are stories that touch their hearts.
"There was a young man my husband and I have known for years," Mrs. Pennington said. "He went to prison, came home and now he is a minister and has his own church. We made one for him when he got home. That was really touching."
One shawl, which was shipped to Canada, was given to a woman who had cancer. She has since died.
"One of our members was a friend of her sister's and she requested the shawl," Mrs. Pennington said.
The toboggans sent out each holiday season are donated to the Salvation Army, the House of Fordham, Davita Dialysis Center, the church's "Backpack Buddies" program for schools in Grantham, the Methodist Home for Children in Rosewood or individuals in need throughout the community.
Prayer shawls usually take two weeks to make, meaning the 329 made and distributed in four years were crafted at a blistering pace.
Shawls are either crocheted by hand or on a loom, both of which are forms of knitting.
"You make a figure eight on each peg of the loom, then lift the bottom over the top of the peg and repeat the process," said group member Myrtle Lumpkin.
Mrs. Lumpkin said that while a few stories behind the prayer shawls stuck out in her memory over the years, she felt that all the shawls were special.
"One lady we gave a shawl to had all kinds of health problems and had to get all kinds of x-rays," Mrs. Lumpkin said. "The doctors told her she couldn't take her shawl into the x-ray with her, and she looked at the doctor and said, 'Yes, I can.' And she ended up taking her shawl in there with her. They're that special to the people we make them for. I don't think we've ever made a shawl and not received a thank you letter for it."
The group said it is a wonderful feeling to deliver the shawls or toboggans to the recipients and see how much it means to them.
"Whether they're in pain or anything, they can wrap themselves in the shawls or wear the hats and feel the prayers and warmth," Mrs. Lumpkin said.
One shawl was given to a small child that was caught in a drive-by shooting in Goldsboro little more than a year ago.
"We also gave a lady that works at Dairy Queen a prayer shawl after she accidentally ran a man over and killed him," Mrs. Pennington said.
At the end of the day, Mrs. Pennington said, making the shawls and the hats is a way for them to be supportive of community members and show their love to people going through a hard time.
"With everything we make, we only ask that it is given away and never sold," she said. "Anybody and everybody is welcome to join us."