Gwilly creates a crafty way to show his pride while supporting charity

Keep your eyes open and you might see people wearing special accessories at Carrot Fest.

Members of the Bradford Seniors Association have once again worked hard to make their well-known Gwilly pins and will be selling them at Carrot Fest on August 16 and 17 to help raise funds for the Ronald McDonald House Charity (RMHC) in Toronto.

“The Ronald McDonald House made a huge difference in this community for some families whose children are alive today because they were treated at SickKids hospital and the family was allowed to be there,” said Jan Evans, First Vice President.

Modeled after the festival mascot, Gwilly the Carrot, the needles are made by group members who start collecting materials as early as March and form a production line where they spend several hours a day, several days a week, drawing, cutting. and sew fabric, before stuffing it, attaching squinty eyes and drawing on those smiley faces.

The group has been making and selling pins to benefit RMHC since 2006 — with a brief hiatus in 2019 due to a lack of artisans and the 2020-21 COVID-19 pandemic years — and has raised more than $25,000 in total.

“As a non-government funded organisation, we rely on organizations like Bradford Seniors Association to ensure we can continue to serve the thousands of families who are touched by our mission each year,” Joanna Winsor, Director of Marketing and Communications at RMHC Toronto said via email. “Through community fundraising efforts we can ensure that more families are better served and get the support they need.”

This year, the senior association has already made more than 1,200 pins and will be selling them at Carrot Fest, as well as partnering with Holland Gardens for a booth where pins will also be available for just $1.

While the task of creating so many pins can be daunting, President Elke Pitkin said the response from the community makes it all worth it.

“It’s great when people come to Carrot Fest. It is amazing; they tell us their stories, that they were there and what effect it had on their family,” she said. “It makes you feel really good inside.”

Evans said some generous people offer to pay more than necessary, while others make a donation without even picking up a needle.

“The goal is to sell all the carrots,” she said, which should be a piece of carrot cake, according to Pitkin, who said pins usually sell out “well before” the festival ends.

Olga Bishop helped oversee the production and said the only year it didn’t sell out was when a severe storm wiped out the event in 2014.

Unlike most years, when Bishop said by the end of the festival, people are usually asking to buy the popular pins right off members’ outfits.

The pins have also been spotted out of town, traveling to Ottawa in December and donned in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill by York-Simcoe MP Scot Davidson.

Davidson has also offered to help cover the cost of this year’s materials, according to Evans, who said it comes to about $300 because the price of some parts, such as safety pins and buzz eyes, have gone up recently.

In previous years, the needles were made with fabric from various orange clothing items from thrift stores. But starting in the mid-2010s, they switched to felt for consistency, and Bishop praised Susan Simurda’s excellent sewing skills for sewing over 1,000 needles this year alone.

For those who can’t wait until the festival to get their hands on some pins, they are already available at the Danube Senior Recreation Center, 715 Simcoe St., Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For more information on the seniors association, visit bradfordseniors.ca.

Since 1981, RMHC Toronto has served as a place of call for families with seriously ill children undergoing treatment and currently houses 81 families at their Toronto location near the Hospital for Sick Children and Mount Sinai Hospital.

For more information about RMHC, visit rmhctoronto.ca.