By Kevin J. Sabo
For the Advance
A local Castor resident is putting her talents toward a good cause.
Carol Brown announced on April 13th that she would begin making WeeBee crochet dolls wearing hospital scrubs and a mask, a timely symbol given the pandemic that the world finds itself in the grips of.
Charging $25 per doll, the money is being donated back to the Our Lady of the Rosary Hospital Auxiliary, a charitable organization that helps the hospital purchase needed items.
Brown decided she wanted to support the hospital after her late husband Norm had been a patient in the palliative care room last spring while he was in end stages of cancer.
“Since my husband was in the Palliative Care of Our Lady of the Rosary Hospital last spring, I felt the desire to give back to the hospital in some way, and this seemed like something I could do,” said Brown.
Having crocheted for the last 15 years, Brown has been crocheting the WeeBee dolls since 2016.
While waiting for cataract surgery in February, she began making doll bodies with no idea what would become of them, then the pandemic hit, and her idea was born; make the dolls to honour essential workers and benefit the hospital.
The dolls are designed by English designer Laura Tegg, who has made the doll design free, though the clothing options for the doll usually require the purchase of a pattern.
In the case of the hospital scrubs, however, Tegg has made that pattern free as well to honour the work that medical staff is doing all over the world.
“It’s such a timely and heartfelt expression of support,” said Our Lady of The Rosary Hospital Administrator Colleen Enns.
To date, 23 of the dolls have been ordered, raising $625 for the hospital auxiliary.
Brown is donating “the wool, her time, and expertise,” said Mickey Hronek, the chair of the Hospital Auxiliary.
“We said we would pay for the wool,” said Hronek, “But her response was ‘absolutely not’.”
The funds raised with this fundraiser are going toward the purchase of two leather or vinyl-covered wheelchairs, items that are much easier to clean between patients than the current cloth covered chairs.
If you would like to order a doll, Carol Brown can be contacted at itlldo24@telus.net.
When ordering, specify your preference for colour, and type of worker, such as doctor, nurse, EMT, trucker, homecare, etc.
If any people who crochet would like to help with this project, contact Brown, and locate the pattern at www.ravelry.com by searching Laura Tegg Little WeeBee dolls.
Again, the pattern for the scrubs and the doll are both free.