Special Knitting Forces
When the war on terror was declared after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, a member of the Ethical Society of Northern Westchester decided she wanted to show the people of Afghanistan that there were Americans who felt that there was a better way to respond to terrorists. She became concerned with the many people who were freezing to death in the harsh Afghani winter. She formed the Special Knitting Forces setting a goal of collecting one million sweaters to help to poor people of Afghanistan. She developed a web site and knitted sweaters began pouring in. After a while, she became inundated and started losing track of what was happening. She put out a call for help. We answered that call and early in 2002 RYSEC started collecting the contributions and sending them to Afghanistan.
Northern Westchester had been connected with a group that was sending medical provisions to Afghanistan and they were willing to deliver the knitted clothing as well. I sent a few shipments to them but eventually they did not want to distribute our donations. I did some research and connected with a group of Afghani Americans called de Solay Daywa (Torch of Peace) who were sending aid. This group operated through the Hayward Sunset Rotary in California. The organizer of the distribution eventually moved to another organization called Orchard International. They are currently sending our knitted contributions to Afghanistan. In addition, they send medical supplies
Please bring your contributions to the Society clearly marked for Special Knitting Forces.
Knitted clothing may also be mailed to:
Special Knitting Forces
Riverdale Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture
4450 Fieldston Road
Bronx, NY 10471