F

or most knitters, picking up knit-
ting needles and winding the yarn
through their fingers is a very
therapeutic activity. For 12-year-
old Lauren Mondry of Bloomfield Hills, it
is a doubly therapeutic act, because the hats
she knits she also gives away to children
suffering from cancer.
Lauren, who will celebrate her bat
mitzvah at Temple Israel March 29th,
brainstormed with her parents, Mitchell
and Diane, to come up with a meaningful
mitzvah project. She loves to knit, which
she learned to do when she was 9, and
she has an understanding of the loss can-
cer can bring, as Diane's older sister,
Marlene Bremen, died of cancer at the
age of 15. Lauren and Diane began knit-
ting hats and lap blankets for children
undergoing chemotherapy. "When kids
get their chemo, they use these because
they get very cold," says Lauren.
Lauren's friends wanted to help out, too,
and Chemo Caps was born.
Friends and strangers are knitting and
dropping off beautiful, hand-knit hats and
lap blankets, all of which Lauren and her

family will donate to Karamanos Cancer
Institute and Children's Hospital of
Detroit. Others are dropping off cotton
and acrylic yarn (wool irritates sensitive
skin), some by the garbage bagful. Local
yarn stores, Knit, Knit, Knit in West
Bloomfield, and Right off the Sheep in
Birmingham, will provide Chemo Cap
knitters with yarn and patterns for free.
"The owner of Anny Blatt USA yarns saw
a flyer in Knit, Knit, Knit, and called us
to donate two boxes of cotton and acrylic
yarn," says Diane. "One day, a lady
dropped off two enormous black garbage
bags on our front porch. One had yarn,
and one had 38 individually wrapped
hats. I ran after her, and she indicated she
was deaf. She did not want to give us her
name. It was a total anonymous act of
kindness."
Lauren is teaching her fellow seventh
graders at Derby Middle School in
Birmingham to knit during recess, and the
knitting group is now 38 girls strong. Girl
Scout and Brownie troops are asking her to
teach them, and church groups and senior
citizen groups have adopted Chemo Caps

as their projects. Hundreds of colorful hats
now fill the Mondry home. "When my
friends learn to knit, it's really fun because
they'll come over and we'll knit and watch
movies," says Lauren.
"This will have an impact on a lot of
people," notes Mitchell. "This will have a
long-lasting effect on Lauren for a long
time to come. Hopefully, it will spur some
creativity in others looking for meaningful
(continued on page 19)

STYLE AT THE JN • FEBRUARY 2003 •

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