High School Student Turns Hobby Into Ministry

Story by Heidi Wetmore

Charis McRoy, a junior at Chesapeake Conference's Spencerville Adventist Academy (SAA), learned how to loom knit hats from a family friend. After making hats for each of her family members, McRoy wondered how she could use this newfound hobby to serve others. She needed a reason and purpose for what she was doing; that is how Kinder Knit was born.

After much thought, McRoy decided to make hats for infants in the NICU. This target group was near and dear to her heart, because 17 years ago, she herself was a newborn in the NICU. “To this day, I have handmade blankets that kind individuals gave me when I was in the NICU,” shares McRoy. “Now this is my chance to give back and serve others.”

Last year McRoy donated 20 hats to a maternity ward at a hospital in Georgia. This year she hopes to donate more hats to hospitals in the Washington D.C. metropolitan region. With help from others, she is challenging herself to make more than 50 baby hats by holding workshops. So far she is a fifth of the way there. In February she held a workshop at the SAA high school girls’ slumber party, where she taught some of her friends how to make hats.

“I really admire her generous and kind spirit,” says sophomore Alyssa Caruthers. “She kept encouraging me, even when I thought I couldn’t do it. I am so grateful that I was able to learn how to knit that day. I truly admire Charis and the hard work she has put in to giving to God’s children.”

Junior Angela Coppock says, “One of my favorite parts of the slumber party was knitting little baby hats. It was cool to learn a new skill and help others in the process. We were learning with a purpose.”

Staff member Gigi Mattox, the high school administrative assistant at the time, served as a chaperone at the slumber party. “I expected that sometime throughout the evening I would share some words of wisdom with a student or two, since that’s what supervisors/ chaperones are supposed to do. However, I was ministered to by this beautiful child of God who was using her talents to shine for Jesus,” she says. “I thank Charis for ministering to me and imparting words of wisdom through her actions that evening.”

McRoy says, “I hope that others will see that one of the greatest ways of sharing the gospel is by simply showing people that someone cares and loves them.”