Meg’s ‘God-given talent’ keeps kids warm

An East London pensioner has been clicking her knitting needles at a frantic pace to help keep those less privileged than herself warm over the winter.

Meg van Staden, 76, has been knitting jerseys for the past five years and donating them to her local church, which in turn distributes the winter woollies to charities across the Eastern Cape.

Van Staden says she knits between 40 and 50 jerseys every year. This year she has already donated 14 jerseys and she is now “sitting with 18 jerseys” ready for distribution.

“I have been given a God-given talent – I can knit,” said Van Staden.

“I have a talent and I feel I have got to give back something to the community.”

Van Staden, who is a regular congregant at the Cambridge Methodist Church, explained that her charity started years ago when the church hosted a “jersey week” to collect jerseys from different churches in East London to distribute within and around the city.

The resident minister, the Reverend Des Plint, commended his congregant’s efforts, saying that “Meg is one of the most wonderful people” he knows.

Plint believes that Van Staden’s “hobby” helped to keep many children warm during the winter. “I think it is absolutely wonderful what she does,” said Plint.

Van Staden said that she expanded her knitting skills to include beanies and booties for babies, which she donates to the Women’s Auxiliary which in turn supports other charities. The Saxilby resident chuckled that her grandmother once told her she would never be a knitter, adding that it was her grandmother who tried numerous times to get her started. Van Staden added that it was only in her later years that she discovered how easy it was to knit, and believes that knitting is her “calling”.

“I put a unique touch to every one,” she added.

Her husband Les said he was proud of his wife’s initiative, adding that “she can’t sit still for a moment”.

“It’s amazing, every spare minute she gets, she is knitting,” said Les, who was wearing one of his wife’s many creations.

(This story is courtesy of The Dispatch. Used with permission.)