An event to provide warmth, comfort and hope for thousands of people in need in eastern Europe, is being held in Rangiora on Friday, September 18.

Loved Twice – a preloved clothing event is aimed at  proviiding funds to help create woollen blankets and clothing for vulnerable children.

The event at 111 Est Belt, is being hosted by Recyled Clothing, on King Street.

A group of ladies run the recycled clothing shop which helps raise funds to buy wool for knitters in Canterbury and beyond for Operation Cover Up.

They also support special projects sponsored by Operation Cover Up, such as funds to purchase a chainsaw and grass trimmer for a man in Moldova so that he can support his family.

Operation Cover Up has been operating since 2000 with knitters across New Zealand helping keep thousands warm.

The programme began from humble beginnings after a Mission Without Borders newsletter deeply moved a woman from Taupō.

She discovered through the newsletter that children in Eastern European orphanages had only thin cotton bed covers, inadequate heating, in temperatures that often dropped to minus 20 degrees or lower.

At the time, the woman sponsored a little boy who was living in an orphanage in Moldova.

There were 67 children in the orphanage, so she decided to place a request in her local Taupō newspaper for knitted blankets. She hoped to receive one blanket for each child.

The response was overwhelming. In that first year, she received 240 blankets, along with hundreds of other much-needed items. 

The Loved Twice event will run from 6pm to 8pm, Friday, September 18, at 111 East Belt, Rangiora.

The King Street shop is open Tuesday to Friday 10am to 3pm. It accepts good quality women’s and men’s clothing, shoes and handbags.