How one woman brought joy to 350 kids with cancer

What started as a small project, has snowballed into something much bigger than was ever expected. The magic yarn project is an organization that was started by a woman named Holly Christensen , who wanted to help bring some magic and light into her friends daughters life,who had been diagnosed with cancer.

She began to organize what she thought would be a small project, creating a few dozen wigs to send to little cancer patients and put up a request on Facebook for yarn donations. Within hours, she was flooded with responses from around the world — mothers who wanted these knitted wigs for their little girls who have cancer, complete strangers who wanted to help by donating money to buy yarn, professionals reaching out and requesting wigs for their hospitals.

And now it’s in Israel!

In Israel, this amazing initiative was started by Rotem Alima. Rotem is a 28 year old producer from Tel Aviv. She began this project in which colorful  knitted wigs will be given to small girls who are battling cancer. The project snowballed within Israel and tens of women and some male volunteers have been knitting up a storm to get everything ready in time for Purim. They have organized meetups from Beer Sheva up to Caaesaria to make as many wigs as possible for the 350 sick children with cancer in Schneider Hospital.

This creativity used for such an amazing cause is so inspiring and moving. The special knitted wigs are made in a way, which is inspired by Disney’s Princesses, peter pan hat’s, red Indians and mermaids.

Peter Pan hat and wig

But what about the boys?

Well the boys, they won’t be feeling left out when they receive their awesome knitted Minion, Batman and Angry Bird hats.

Dealing with hair loss: One woman, who volunteered to knit the wigs for cancer patients admitted that

Dealing with hair loss is  one of the greatest challenges during chemotherapy (I know this from personal experience, until a year ago I was hairless) and I’m sure that every child will be happy to receive such a beautiful wig.”

Who are the volunteers?

The volunteers come from all over Israel, and one of the Volunteers is Ruti Shevach from Zichron Yaakov. Her  work usually combines objects of crafts such as knitting, crochet and macramé. With new techniques she has developed, allowing for the expansion of thought and creativity to create jewelry with a modern interpretation and free style. She uses soft materials such as wool, silk, cotton, satin and a combination of goldfilled, gold-plated metal or silver.

 Using their skills to help!

Ruti enlisted to help with this initiative. Sharing her skills and creating instruction for other volunteers as well. The Sabra Patch is proud to have Ruti as part of our online community of artists.

These wonderful  women hope to deliver the dream of magic to the brave little cancer fighters in Israel. Although they can’t take away the horrible disease, they can bring some fun and joy into their young lives . I cried when I saw these pictures of the beautiful children receiving their wigs.

Shnieder Hospital -Photo Credit :Ofir Yona

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