Westmount senior centre knitting for women's shelters

Maureen McCrory never imagined Westmount’s Contactivity Centre would become like a second home.

“I would go by Contactivity at their former site and I'd look at that and I'd say ‘Oh, that's for old people,’” she said.

After 53 years of working at the Montreal Children's Hospital, McCrory was ready to retire. Though with her family living away, she was in search of social ties.

“I looked at Contactivity and I thought you are old ... so I went in and I became a member,” McCrory told CTV News.

The non-profit community centre for adults over 60 aims to minimize social isolation and other forms of exclusion by offering arts, technology, fitness programs and other activities.

On the list is a weekly knitting and crochet group known as the Busy Bees. While the goal was initially to produce and sell products to help fund the centre itself, executive director Benita Goldin says the group's mandate has grown.

“When Chez Doris opened up its new residence, they knitted slippers and blankets for all the beds in the new residence. They've knitted for Hope & Cope. They've made chemo hats and chemo blankets,” Goldin said.

The group is also “knitting squares to put together to make blankets, which they're in the process of donating to three Montreal women's shelters,” the executive director added.

Maureen has now been with Contactivity for nine years and says she gets just as much from the program as she gives — particularly given the centre's intergenerational outreach.

“We know that we're elderly, but when we're with the students we feel young,” McCrory explained.

At a time when knitting is regaining popularity, students from schools like Selwyn House can also try the creative outlet with the guidance of a worker bee.

“I'm making a scarf for my girlfriend,” one grade 11 student said.

“When you help other people, you actually help yourself too and you become a happier person ... The more people can help out other people and the happier the world is going to be.”

Though friends and family may move or move on, McCrory says, she's comforted by her Contactivity community and she's a happy busy bee.