Cowichan Valley’s Handmade Hugs Society is looking for a new home.
The ladies in the non-profit society provide local health care facilities with “Winter Woollies”, including tuques, scarves and mitts, as well as slippers, pyjama bottoms, handmade quilts and afghans and a variety of other products that make hospital stays or other emergency situations easier to cope with.
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Spokeswoman Jan Orrico said the Cowichan Valley school district has “very generously” allowed the society to use a vacant space it had in Duncan Primary School on Cairnsmore Place for approximately a year and a half.
“However, they now need the space we are occupying at the school so they have not extended our lease, which expires on June 30, 2019,” she said.
“The only struggle for us is we only raise enough funds to buy supplies and pay for our insurance, so renting a location is really not an option. Unless someone can help us with a space for our supplies and finished products, they will have to go into a storage locker or [be] disbursed and the future for Handmade Hugs is unknown.”
Candice Spilsbury, chairwoman of the school district, said school enrolment is growing in the Cowichan Valley and the district now needs the space it provided for the society.
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She said the school board has decided to write a letter of recommendation to anyone considering offering space to the society.
“As a lessee, the organization is cooperative, organized and unproblematic,” Spilsbury said in the letter.
“The board thanks Handmade Hugs for their contribution to the community, and wishes them every success in the future.”
Handmade Hugs currently meets on the last Saturday of each month from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Anyone with space for the society can contact Jan Orrico at 250-743-5062 or email at orricojan@gmail.com, or Karen Brule at 250-818-2953 or email kareneb777@hotmail.com.