wfn.org | Local church volunteers offer comfort to cancer patients worldwide

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Aug. 20, 1999  News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.  10-21-71B{432}

By Angela M. McConnell*

It all started with an effort to make a friend more comfortable as she
underwent chemotherapy. 
Today volunteers at the Aldie (Va.) United Methodist Church work to provide
similar comfort to cancer patients around the world.

Velma Rice, who organized the group, originally made a turban for her
friend, Sally, who underwent chemotherapy for cancer in 1997.  Made with a
breathable cotton knit, the turban was so comfortable for Sally that the
women at the church began to make them for other chemotherapy patients.

After Sally died in January, the women decided to make turban kits that
include fabric samples and a pattern in her honor.  It has been a popular
effort.  Every weekday morning, several women from the church open hundreds
of letters from people around the world asking for turban patterns.   The
volunteers have mailed more than 6,000 patterns and several hundred turbans
to women who ask for them.

The group really is "women helping women," said Rice, who sews each one by
machine while three other volunteers hand finish them.  The group usually
spends $33 a day in postage with each turban kit costing 75 cents to mail.

Rice said she has received letters from doctors, lawyers, judges, ministers
and other residents from every state in the United States and many countries
as well.  One special request came from a Romanian woman whose two sisters
with cancer were so poor they had only one scarf to share between them.  The
woman requested one turban, as they had no material to make the turban if
they received a pattern.  A box of supplies and turbans were sent. 

Rice said the group will continue to make the turban kits "as long as we get
letters."  To request a copy of the turban pattern, send a self-addressed,
stamped envelope to Aldie United Methodist Women, P.O. Box 14, Aldie, VA
20105.
# # #
*McConnell is a writer for Leesburg (Va.) Today newspaper in which the
article first appeared.  Used with permission.  

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