Beanie Tree brings festive cheer to Portarlington

PORTARLINGTON’S crocheters and knitters have teamed up to again pay it forward this Christmas, handcrafting about 300 beanies for children and young people who are entering foster care or out-of-home care.

Over the festive season, the beanies will be displayed at the Portarlington Community Bank in Newcombe Street in the striking shape of a Christmas tree, giving everyone in the community the opportunity to admire what has been dubbed “The Beanie Tree”.

The Beanie Tree initiative is led by the Portarlington Community Association’s (PCA) vice-president Diane Kolomeitz, Andrea Clements and her team at Yarn Me Calm and the ladies of the Bellarine Women’s Network.

The initiative launched for the first-time last year, with upwards of 50 local crafters, contributing about 200 beanies to the display, which were then donated to the Andrew Love Cancer Centre in Geelong.

Ms Kolomeitz said the initiative is a true community collaboration, in that so many people had come together to make it happen.

“This year, crafters have really got behind the initiative,” she said.

“It’s just a wonderful effort.”

About a 10th of this year’s beanies have been crafted by much-loved local and prolific crafter Rose Poole, who at 88 years old continues to donate her time and skill to a variety of organisations, charities and local initiatives.

A true overachiever, no two of the items Ms Poole handcrafts and donates are the same.

“It keeps your brain working because you’re always counting when you’re crocheting,” she said.

The youngest of six children, Ms Poole said she grew up watching her mother crochet and motivated by a strong love for creating, the craft feels “natural”.

In the new year, the beanies will be donated to Hope in a Suitcase, a not-for-profit organisation that works to provide children and young people across Australia who may be entering foster care or out-of-home care, with a suitcase of belongings they can call their own.

Children entering foster care often bring with them a plastic bag of belongings, which then follows them to each placement.

By providing these children with a suitcase filled with self-care items and other essentials, Hope in a Suitcase aims to send these young people the message that they are important and cared for by the community.

It was Karen Coulson, the vice president of the Bellarine Women’s Network, who suggested the donation be made to the organisation.

“I had a foster sister, and she came with a plastic bag of just her own items, so it’s nice for them to have something of their own,” Ms Coulson said.

The Beanie Tree is complemented by the reappearance of big red bows at shopfronts in Portarlington, another annual festive initiative led by the PCA and the Portarlington Community Bank.

This year, the PCA donated the red tulle for the bows to traders along Portarlington’s central shopping strip to encourage them to get into the Christmas spirit, with $5 from each bow set to be donated to the Salvation Army’s Christmas appeal.