A Craft Group Pays it Forward

Members of the Sydney-based craft group at Macquarie Lodge Retirement Village (“Macquarie Lodge”) demonstrated their generosity recently by donating some of their craft supplies to a similar group at Rosedurnate Aged Care Centre (“Rosedurnate”) in Parkes, NSW.  

One of the members of the craft group at Macquarie Lodge, Del, lead the charge for this random act of kindness – something that has been instilled in her throughout her life. Del herself was a child of Salvation Army Officers, before eventually becoming a Salvation Army Officer herself. She has lived at Macquarie Lodge for the last twenty-two years, with her connection to the craft group extending back many years, when her parents were also living at the site and her mother even running the craft group at one point.  

“Mum took over the craft group within about 6 months of coming to live here and she ran it for a long time. Then, all of a sudden, I got conned into it because I used to come over at weekend to help her out. And then I started getting jobs – ‘well you do this bit of sewing,’” Del laughs. It was soon after, that Del was at the helm, leading the group. “Then, I had the leadership of the group for about fourteen to fifteen years.”  

When asked about why she was so quick to donate to Rosedurnate, Del notes it simply “made sense,” when considering the overwhelming amount of supplies they had at Macquarie Lodge. “We had two ladies who passed away who were professional seamstresses and the family left everything with us. So, I had rolls of material and then we had stacks of cottons and buttons and all sorts of things.”  

For Del, she notes that with this act, they in fact received just as much reward for their generosity. “I think it’s the satisfaction that you’re not considering yourself all the time. You’re sharing it around and that’s what I’ve grown up with.”  

For another Macquarie Lodge craft group member, Janice, she was also more than happy to pass kindness on to Rosedurnate. Much like Del it was a ‘no brainer’ to donate the items to the craft group at Rosedurnate, with Janice also noting she finds reward and satisfaction in it too. “I just like to do it,” she says. 

The Lifestyle Assistant at Rosedurnate, Joy, whose group benefited from the donations, notes that the generosity of the ladies from Macquarie Lodge certainly didn’t go unnoticed “The residents thought it was fantastic and they do like going through all the material and all that,” tells Joy. 

The Rosedurnate craft group has been running for approximately two years and has produced amazing, creative works including cushions, cushion cover ups and knitting squares to donate, and bed dolls. For Joy, she said that the sheer volume of the donation will help the group in continuing their creative craft endeavours. “We got material for sewing, wool and a lot of applicators that we can use for card making; things for scrapbooking.”  

But perhaps even beyond the sheer size of the donations, Joy notes she was struck by the generosity of the ladies. “It’s just inspiring to see that we can all make a difference to support our residents.”