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Fog/Mist Knitting blankets for children with cancer
Louise Bernstein, 91, learned to knit as a young child. But it was when she turned 7 that it became a passion, spurred on by an ulterior motive. After years of experiencing poor eyesight, a doctor recommended glasses, but he told her to only wear them while doing close, detailed work.
“I’m not sure why the doctor only wanted me to wear the glasses then,” said Bernstein, her fingers grasping a set of knitting needles as she methodically knit a grey blanket. “I’ll never forget the feeling when I could see leaves, which had always been a blur. From then on I either had a book under my arm or was knitting to justify my wearing the glasses.”
Eventually she was able to make knitted suits, jackets, mittens and sweaters. “Knitting became my friend,” Bernstein said. “It was always productive because I got something in the end.”
She married Bernard Salerno in 1948 and they had two sons, Darryl and Mitchell. After they divorced in 1964, Bernstein married Stanley Bernstein a year later. He died in 1991.
Mitchell always considered his mother to be the head of the family and said his mother has always been his mentor. He has many memories of his childhood but one thing stands out. “Mom was always knitting,” said Mitchell, who lives in East Norwich. “I remember when she knitted one of my sweaters with my initials, MPS. The kids in school teased me because when it wrinkled the letters looked like MRS. So, I wouldn’t wear it. But she made me plenty of other sweaters.”
Massapequa resident, Baker founded the nonprofit, We care blankets, in 2001. Volunteers knit blankets that are given to children undergoing cancer treatments. Bernstein became one of the volunteers and has been knitting blankets for the past 18 years for the children.
A registered psychiatric nurse until she was 79, Bernstein only retired because, unable to kneel on the ground, she could not pass the CPR test. She worked at many hospitals, she said, including South Oaks in Amityville.
“I always wanted to work in a psych ward because I wondered why the [patient’s] minds were twisted and couldn’t see reality,” she said. “I made blankets for them too. As a nurse I was always busy but after I retired, I had nothing to do but clean the house.”
She made even more blankets then for We care. When Mitchell would visit his mother in Harrison, N.Y., where she moved to be near Darryl, he never went home empty handed. Mitchell would bring several boxes of blankets back to Long Island for We care, dropping them off at the Levittown home of one of the volunteers.
The idea of We care came about as a result of Baker’s own experience of having a mysterious blood disease that eventually went away. While waiting to see her oncology doctor at Cornell Weill she saw children go in and out of an area where they received chemotherapy. “I decided to make blankets to give them security and warmth,” Baker said. “So, I created help wanted flyers for knitters to make the blankets. But people wanted supplies and I had no money.”
Her oncologist gave her $2,000, which got her started. The doctor continued to give her money for the supplies and mailing for another two years.
Baker’s effort has grown, with blankets donated all over the country as well as in Israel, which she hand delivers. And the blankets are sent to others in need as well. Baker mailed blankets to the homeless in Kentucky in December after the tornado and to victims of the Jan. 9 apartment fire in the Bronx.
Sometimes the size of the donated blankets isn’t appropriate for children, because they are too large, Baker said. She sends those blankets to hospices and to first responders that have cancer.
“We get money for the shipping from grants, from when we sell blankets at street fairs and from donations,” Baker said. “Somehow we manage by the skin of our teeth but we survive.”
When asked about Bernstein, Baker said she only met her the one time in the Farmingdale Library but she appreciates all that she does.
“She is a very precious person,” Baker said. “She makes beautiful blankets and is valuable to us.”
Bernstein who moved so many times in her lifetime settled in Glen Cove in October, when she moved into the Atria. She likes it there, she said, because she can socialize with others while knitting.
A grandmother of 10 grandchildren and great grandchildren, Bernstein said the worst experience for a child would be to have a disease. She’s happy to provide them with homemade blankets.
“I couldn’t take my rotation in the children’s ward when I was a nurse,” she said. “I’d always be crying.”
To become involved in We care blankets, either by knitting, providing yarn or making a donation, call (516) 797-2250
