Carol Mitchell: A Heart for Crafts, Women and the Poor

This smiling woman surrounded by happy children is my friend, Carol Mitchell, on a recent trip to  South Africa. She and her husband gave a workshop for South African journalists in Cape Town this past September, which allowed Carol to make a quick visit to our friends from the not-for-profit ArtAidsArt and deliver over eighty handmade dolls made by "dollie mamas" affiliated with Dollies without Borders. 

Carol Mitchell is all about crafts. Whether its teaching knitting and crochet skills to elderly women looking to use their retirement years to help others, or assisting economically disadvantaged women in Florida to start a crafts cooperative for friendship and supplemental income, Carol is tireless when it comes to teaching others the joys and benefits of crafting. Co-director of programming at the Franciscan Retreat center in Tampa, with a doctorate in psychology and years of experience as a retreat leader and spiritual director, Carol embraces crafts and crafting as a way to engage and empower women spiritually as well as economically.

Together with Maureen Connors, Carol co-founded the Midtown Circle of Hands, a women's craft cooperative on St. Petersburg's south side. The women, who are of various ethnicities and and ages, have built a supportive weekly community together, and sell their handiwork in local crafts fairs.

Carol is also instrumental in teaching crocheting and knitting to the seniors at Bon Secours Place, an assisted living center where many of the women are eagerly seeking ways to use their artistic skills to help others. Carol co-facilitated our Doll Making Marathon Retreat this past August, lending her spiritual expertise to the weekend's proceedings. She also volunteered to teach our crafts group at St. Anthony's Hospital how to crochet blankets for charity--a daunting task given the crocheting skill level (none!) of our group members. Carol is also in the process of trying to initiate a prayer shawl ministry for local hospital employees, so knitters and "crochet-ers" can make comforting shawls and wraps for the sick.

Carol incorporates crafting into respite retreat days she facilitates for caregivers, believing that crafting can be a way of praying as well as a manner in which to beat stress and relax. Caregivers respond enthusiastically to her patience, warmth and wisdom.

Carol has instigated what we hope will be an annual holiday fair trade crafts sale at the Franciscan Center of Tampa on Sunday, November 23rd. We will be featuring crafts and fair trade items from ArtAidsArt, MayaWorks, Heart Beats and Bead for Life, among others. We are also hosting Cati Williams, our American liaison and partner with Kullakas, the Bolivian women's knitting cooperative we support, and will be selling Juan Ana fair trade coffee from the mission at San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala. It promises to be hard work, but also a lot of fun. I'm grateful to have a friend like Carol Mitchell--a crafty women with a big heart for others!