A 34-year-old Lonsdale woman, who was born with a heart defect and later suffered heart failure in 2009 at the young age of 25, is making a positive difference in our world one scarf, or hat at a time. Elizabeth Sammons started four years ago what she has come to call Crocheting With a Cause as a way to not only take her mind off the pain and fatigue of heart failure but to also make a positive difference for hundreds of others. 

The Star Tribune recently ran Elizabeth's story about her ongoing project that annually requires months of work and plenty of yarn. Elizabeth learned to crochet early on in life but didn't really keep at it until she saw some inspiration on social media.

Elizabeth saw a story on Facebook about a woman in another state who had tied up scarves onto trees for people who were homeless and others in need. Sammons gave it ago by making a handful of scarves, which she left tied to trees in a local park. They were gone in just days. She made some more. Gone. A cause was born.

After a television station did a story about her scarf project, Sammons got a call from a woman in St. Paul who suggested she move her efforts north. Then in December of 2018, after working with St. Paul Parks and Recreation officials, Sammons and her team distributed more than 1,100 scarves in 13 parks.

Sammons told the Star Tribune that her next project will probably start in February. Incredibly Sammons has already accumulated 13 totes full of yarn, much of it provided by people who have been inspired by her work but aren’t able to make hats and scarves themselves.

By the way, Elizabeth got a new heart in June of 2015, that new heart which is pumping life into her, is also still spreading love one stitch, one scarf, one hat at a time.

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