TIGNISH, P.E.I. — Mary Ann Nelligan changed things up a bit about four years ago.
After nearly 30 years of knitting afghans, mittens and other items for family members, she started knitting dishcloths.
Family members were getting those, too, but, with Nelligan sometimes generating two or three a day, they soon had all they needed.
So, the 2017 Senior Islander of the Year started selling the dishcloths in support of the missionary work P.E.I. native Fr. Roy Shea has been doing in Brazil.
Shea, who has been in Brazil for over 50 years, has visited the Nelligans on trips home to P.E.I. He recently sent her a Christmas greeting, thanking her for her contributions.
“I admire your courage and generosity,” he wrote.
No one really knows how many dishcloths Nelligan has knit. She started tracking her production in 2017 and arrived at the 1,000 mark on Dec. 19.
She is now 50 dishcloths into her next thousand, and she doesn’t plan to stop.
“It’s a great pastime. If I didn’t have that, I don’t know what I’d do,” said the 81-year-old resident of the Tignish Seniors Home.
Once she has 30 or so dishcloths knit and bundled in lots of two, she heads over to the Tignish Co-op, where store staff provide her with a table and a heater. She sets up a sign there and sells her wares. She used to ask $6 for two.
“Now I’ve put it back down to two for $5 because so many people have them,” she says.
And she’s quick to remind shoppers that if they don’t need dishcloths, she will accept donations in support of Shea's work; many contribute.
Most of the money Nelligan raises actually goes to paying shipping costs for sending donations of clothing, teddy bears, eyeglasses, rosaries and other items to the P.E.I. missionary priest in support of his congregation.
June Gaudet co-ordinates the shipping of many of the donations, continuing a practice her mother started 30 years ago. Gaudet said Shea was last home to P.E.I for a visit four and a half years ago. He plans to visit this coming summer, but his retirement, when that happens, will be spent in Brazil.
An area family hosted a Bingo for Shea before Christmas. Others filled and sent bags of goods to him on their own.
Gaudet said she usually sends four or five bags a month, but dispatched 15 in December, including six bags of hockey sweaters. Several groups and individuals supply items for the bags, and Nelligan’s fundraising helps with the shipping, which can amount to over $180 a bag. She estimates the dishcloth hero contributed $1,600 to $1,800 to the cause last year. Some funds were also sent to the missionary. She also sent a few of her dishcloths.
“She likes to make sure he gets toys and eyeglasses and rosaries and teddy bears,” Gaudet reported. “The biggest gift for a child there is teddy bears. They love teddy bears. People are always donating.”
Nelligan and her late husband collected for the priest for many years.
Nelligan said neither the knitting nor the collecting gets tiring. When she sits down, she picks up her knitting needles. Watching TV is easier on her eyes if she’s knitting, she said, because it causes her to have to look down from time to time.
Nelligan says she plans to keep knitting “for as long as I can help Fr. Roy".
“I know that he needs the help. I know it does good for the little ones who are starving and have nothing.”
