Kemptville retirement home residents make 883 ‘Izzy Dolls’

Kemptville retirement home residents have knitted 833 ‘Izzy dolls’ and donated them to a good cause. CTV’s Katie Griffin reports.

When Noella Cleroux and other residents at Kemptville Retirement Living started knitting Izzy Dolls in January, they had no idea how many they’d end up with.

“I did 225 myself and it’s been a joy to do them for the kids,” Cleroux said.

On Monday, Cleroux and others from her retirement home delivered 883 Izzy Dolls to the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.

“It’s amazing. In one swoop they’ve given us more dolls than we raised all of last year,” said Andrea Rinfret with the museum. “It’s wonderful to be able to greet them myself and thank them.”

The dolls, symbols of friendship and peace, are named after Master Cpl. Mark Isfeld.

Isfeld, whose nickname was Izzy, was killed by a landmine while on tour in Croatia 31 years ago. Before his death, his mom made dolls he distributed to children wherever he went.

“What we do with them is, after November, we pile them together and we send them over to Health Partners International Canada, HPIC, who use them as packing materials for their medical kits that they send out to places in need,” Rinfret said.

The dolls are then distributed to children in those communities.

“It’s fun, it’s something to do together,” said Hilary Crosbie, the home’s activity coordinator. “A lot of these ladies would knit in their room before, and now they come and gather in the main lounge, and they knit together.”

The knitters have been hard at work since January and hold a knitting club every Tuesday.

The museum is collecting Izzy Dolls until the end of the month.

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