McKinley Anderson's knitti

By Elizabeth Butler

Sat, May 17 2008

— VALDOSTA — A 10-year-old Valdosta girl is “wrapped up” in a project to keep those who attend the Soup Kitchen warm.
McKinley Anderson is knitting woolen scarves for the participants and wants the public, especially those in nursing homes who enjoy knitting, to join in the endeavor.
An average of 100 people attend the Soup Kitchen each day, and she has set a goal to have 100 scarves knitted by Christmas when they will be presented.
“My cousins (Mitchell Beeland of Valdosta and Isabel Edwards of Comer) taught me how to (knit), and I just wanted to do something for the people at the Soup Kitchen,” she said.
She was excited about the project when she wrote a letter to Isabel. The words are just as she wrote them:
“... Wonderful news. Mason (her brother) is lerning how to knit!! I would like you to help me with a project. We have a soup kitchen here in Valdosta, about 100 people come a day!! I would like to ask you that if you want to you can start in January and start making skarves. Me and Mason mabe Mitchell and you can help me make 100 scarfes!! You could ship me your skarfes (please do colers that a boy or girl could wear). We will hand out the scarfes sometime in December 2008!!”
McKinley volunteers at the Soup Kitchen so she has seen many of the participants.
“We try to go once or twice a month,” she said. “We wash the dishes.”
She is part of a homeschool group called “Get Connected” which made Valentines and gave candy to the people at the Soup Kitchen in February 2007.
As a Girl Scout, she donated cookies, which her grandmother, Jan Beeland of Macon, had purchased, to the Soup Kitchen.
The fourth-grader is homeschooled along with her brothers, Hayworth, 8, and Mason, who will be 7 on March 28.
The daughter of John and Cadden Anderson enjoys reading, especially Nancy Drew mysteries, and wants to be a dancer. She was an extra pirate in the Gingerbread Players production of “The Lady Pirates of Captain Bree.”
McKinley and her family are members of New Covenant Church. Her mom said God laid the knitting project on the heart of McKinley. Those who want to join her in the knitting project may call 259-0247 when the scarves are completed so McKinley can pick them up and present them at Christmas.

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