Woman makes mitts with special messages for Yellowknife's homeless

Mabel Tatchinron from Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., says she thinks about the homeless a lot.

And last year, she had an idea just before Christmas.

Tatchinron took some jeans her kids outgrew, hoodies and a blanket made of duffle laying around her home and cut it all up.

Then she began to double stitchmittens with hand-picked messages on them: "Always believe,""I am worthy,""Peace"read some of her embroidery.

"I thought about if I make the mitts really fancy, it wouldn't have any meaning," said Tatchinron, who taught herself how to sew traditional clothingas a child.

"So I decided to make it simple [and] I put some positive words."

'Somebody does care'

Tatchinron said she knows a lady who's been living on the streets for a while, and also has a friend who was once homeless.

"She told me what it was like," she said.

She said she's "always had a lot of compassion" for the homeless, and was thinking of ways to help them.

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A mom who also works full-time, Tatchinron sewed whenever she found free time. She completed 13 sets of mitts by Tuesday, each with its own unique scripture or words.

Her favourite of the bunch: "I accept me. I love me."

"They're on their own journey and they make their own choices. That's why I kind of like that one because, you know, we can't change them."

Tatchinron said she hopes to do this every winter for homeless across the territory, but wants to get a head start before it gets cold this time.

"I just hope that they, with my mitts, there's some kind of hope they can hang on to just to keep going," she said.

"Somebody does care, and somebody does love you."

She said she won't be able to hand-deliver them to Yellowknife because of the distance, but is passing it along to her friend to hand out to Yellowknife's homeless this week.

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