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Friday, November 13, 2009

Four women who live at Penny’s Place will be a little warmer tonight. Abbotsford Community
Services Focus on Friends group participants presented them with 15 newly knitted and
crocheted blankets that they have been working on for over a year.

Focus on Friends is Community Living program, which connects adults and seniors with
developmental disabilities to the community. Supervised by Janet Artinian, the program operates from the main floor of the Old Courthouse. Support workers Yvonne and Susie have had to learn the finer art of knitting and crocheting along with clients Hannah, Cora, Betty-Lou, Bev and others.

The blankets will keep women who have little or nothing, warm and cozy at night. But more than that, the gifting of their work to another group in the community has given the Focus on Friends clients more pride than anyone could have hoped for.

The group decided to give the blankets to Penny’s Place, a pilot project operated by the Women’s Resource Society of the Fraser Valley. Penny’s Place, a small 4-bedroom home in central Abbotsford, opened in April 2009. It is a safe place for homeless women.
Residents can stay as long as necessary, until they can get back on their feet. Right now, all four residents come from various backgrounds. Marie (not her real name) worked as an LPN in both Mission and Abbotsford’s hospitals before a few bad choices turned her life completely around.

With the help of the stable home environment at Penny’s Place, she has regained her confidence.  She plans to be in her own place again by February 2010.  It was an interesting gathering on a cloudy November afternoon in the Old Courthouse Activity Room. Three women who have seen it all while living on the hard cold streets, and a small group of older developmentally disabled women doing their best for someone else they don’t even know. Blankets brought them together. Smiles all around will be what they all remember for many days and months to come.