LIHUE — Becca Rogers has the Salvation Army bell thing wired. Holding the bell between a finger wrapped around a crochet blanket, the bell emits its familiar ting-a-ling in time to Rogers’ crochet hook outside the Time Supermarket at Kukui
LIHUE — Becca Rogers has the Salvation Army bell thing wired.
Holding the bell between a finger wrapped around a crochet blanket, the bell emits its familiar ting-a-ling in time to Rogers’ crochet hook outside the Time Supermarket at Kukui Grove Center.
“I need to finish this quickly,” Rogers said. “We need to have two blankets done by Thursday, and the quicker I finish this one, I can start the second one. It’s going to be blue.”
Rogers, who suffers from Carpal Tunnel No. 3 and trigger finger, said she and her mom, Kit Ellison — who was forced to take early retirement due to a disability — have been helping the Salvation Army for decades.
“We can’t forget the kupuna and the children,” Rogers said. “Especially during this time of the year. These items that I crochet, it’s a little like therapy for my disability.”
The two women, who sell handmade items at craft fairs throughout the year, usually focus on gathering toys and other gift items, including items Rogers crochets. But this year, due to a lack of bell ringers, the Salvation Army asked them to take a turn at manning the red kettles.
“We’ve been helping the Salvation Army for a long time,” Rogers said. “My mother had 23 foster children, and the Salvation Army helped her. That way, it’s like we have children who were helped by the Salvation Army. Now, we want to pay it forward.”
Rogers said it’s been about 20 years since she moved back to Hawaii, and they’ve were helping with the Salvation Army even before that.
“I used to do the Toys for Tots blanket,” Rogers said. “But this year, they never asked. This is the first time in more than 20 years that we aren’t involved in the Toys for Tots.”
But the Salvation Army accepts all her efforts.
“We start looking for toys from the day after Christmas when all the sales are,” Rogers said. “We go through the year picking up things for the children. When we got back to Hawaii, my daughter was just two months old, and the first thing we did was grab toys for the Salvation Army Lokahi Tree. As she grew up, we would be at a craft fair and if we made extra money, she would say ‘Give it to the kids.’”
Rogers said they will turn over nine or 10 crochet blankets to the Salvation Army this year.
“We usually have more, but we had bad luck this year,” Rogers said. “My uncle, whose birthday fell on Christmas, passed in May.”
