Canada Comforts Society - October 2026 Newsletter

 

Welcome to our October newsletter!  We know there is always interest in where your donations go, so here are a few recent photos of what we have all helped to accomplish.

The Ethiopia container arrived in April with equipment and supplies to furnish a new medical clinic at Blessing The Children complex. They also received school supplies and goods for a skill development center for carpentry, sewing and baking.

Update from Kenya:   YFC Kenya has opened the “Thread of Hope Skill Training Center”.  Many people donated sewing machines, both electric and treadle as well as fabric and sewing supplies to get this center up and running.  Much work was done here in Victoria to repair and restore machines prior to sending.

Ghana Mom & Baby Clinic.  Safe delivery packs were given to moms-to-be.  Baby packs containing our contributions of washcloths, blankets, hats, bibs, baby tops, onesies, sheets, towels and soap were given to moms, along with health advice from local nurses.

CRW containers to date 2026 

  1. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia January Gleaners Food
  2. Free Town, Sierra Leone   February   Household and educational supplies, bikes and tools
  3. Nairobi. Kenya   March Household and educational supplies, bikes and tools
  4. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia   April Medical equipment and supplies, educational equipment and supplies           
  5. Harare, Zimbabwe   June   Gleaners food
  6. Harare, Zimbabwe June Educational supplies, bikes and tools, medical supplies, building supplies
  7. Accra, Ghana August Household and educational supplies, bikes and tools.
  8. Kiev, Ukraine​ September Orphanage supplies and equipment
  9. Lilongwe, Malawi   October   Household and educational supplies, bikes and tools.

Toques For Kids

An update for you on the northern Canada “Toques for Kids” program:

The toques that you knit and send to us, go through Marlene to Marilyn, who boxes them up and mails them north to schools that have requested them.

So far this fall and winter season Marilyn has sent over 2500 toques from Canada Comforts to northern schools!  And the teachers at the schools have sent back many thank you letters to Marilyn for the hats, so we know that your work is much appreciated!  These happy students are loving their toques!

One thing to remember, the program does not accept scarves for safety reasons.  However, they gladly accept mitts and socks in addition to the toques.

Spotlight on:  Busy Bees Kelowna

The Busy Bees have been meeting weekly at Sandalwood Retirement resort in Kelowna since at least 2012.

The group gets together to crochet and knit for Canada Comforts and the membership currently consist of about five or six active members and two family members who join us most weeks.

We also have knitters who prefer to work in their private suites and just give us their contributions from time to time. We actively seek out new residents to join us whenever possible.

We knit squares for blankets, washcloths, scarves, toques, mitts, slippers, sweaters and toys depending on the skill and interest of each member while others prefer crochet and make afghans, bags, baby blankets and more.

We have a large supply of knitting needles, crochet hooks, patterns and other equipment, mostly donated to us by past residents or family members to loan out with yarn to anyone wanting to experiment in the hopes that they will join us.

Our yarn comes from a variety of sources. We receive donations from time to time from residents and family members but purchase most of our yarn online.  In order to pay for it, we participate in Sandalwood’s twice a year Craft Fair to make our products available to both residents and visitors. We have a raffle of a couple of special items made by our members at each Fair and tickets are popular with residents and visitors alike.  We are also happy to sell items during the year to residents and staff needing a quick gift which boosts our bank account so we can buy more yarn. We are delighted to donate to Canada Comforts and enjoy finding out where our items might end up. We have started working on our next contribution for Canada Comforts and will get in touch once we have enough to send.

Janet Ready, Queen Bee

 

SYLVIA’S PAGE

Great news for our team members in the lower mainland of BC in the areas of Vancouver, N. and W. Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Maple Ridge and near surroundings.

As you know Coast Distributors in Surrey delivers Canada Comforts items to us in Victoria free of charge.  They are at 9775 - 188 Street in Surrey and will soon be moving to Pitt Meadows.  Coast Distributors is a great distance away for most of you and Ann Pickall has volunteered to meet up with you and take your gifts to them.  I was delighted to hear that, since Ann - now retired from nursing - would like to volunteer to help us with transportation.  In some areas perhaps she could meet you at a designated place such as a rec centre.  If a team member doesn’t drive, Ann would try harder to get to them.  But as you know the traffic is pretty heavy in some areas and specific addresses can be hard to find.

In her email, Ann asked me “….to reach out to our team members so she can help move their precious items to Coast Distributors and get items to souls around the world who are very much in need”.    After years of working at a medical call centre, Ann prefers to be contacted by email - swim2dog@gmail

As usual, we will still contact you when Coast delivers your gifts to us - IF you have put Canada Comforts on the outside of your parcels and your name and contact number on the inside.

A tremendous thank you to Ann for volunteering to be a transporter!!

Flannelette pieces needed  

We use strips as small as 8”x 3” to sew menstrual pads and a longer strip for incontinent pads.  We always

need a great amount of flannelette and flannelette sheets to fulfill all the requests we receive for: quilts, bibs, diapers, receiving blankets, some of our baby tops, menstrual and incontinent kits.

Monthly, we have been averaging 312 diapers, 640 pads, plus all the other items mentioned.

(We are not just pretty faces!!)   So please be on the prowl for flannelette!

Bag sewers

We do need bags, so please keep up the good work.  We would like to clear up one problem.  As some of you know, we have been asked for 2 rows of stitching at the bottom of the two thread casings.  One row sewn close to the edge of the casings stops the casing edges from flapping up and down every time something is taken out of the bag.  The second row (just above the first row) is for security-since the bags are used constantly.

I am sending a big hug to all of you.    Sylvia (Founder of CCS)

We can walk far when we walk together…..African proverb

Canada Comforts Society is a registered Canadian charity run by volunteers.

Website: http://canadacomfortssociety.ca/

Roberta Graham, President 250 595 9902 canadacomfortssociety@shaw.ca

Sara Hatfield, Secretary/Treasurer 250 474 4614  cancoms@shaw.ca(opens in new tab)

Betty Guiney: Workshop Leader 250 478 3040 abguiney@yahoo.com

Sylvia Hatfield, Founder 250 474 4614 canadacomforts@shaw.ca