WELLINGTON – Oct. 25, 2024 – Thirty senior women from the Evangeline region and surrounding areas submitted a total of 157 pieces they had knitted – an average of more than five pieces per person – to the 2024 Co-op and Small Business Weeks knitting contest. They easily beat last year’s record of 117 pieces submitted by 27 knitters.

To thank and reward them for their participation in the competition, the organizers held random draws for various prizes. The top prize, a $100 gift card to the Wellington Co-op donated by the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI, was won by Lucia Arsenault. Yvonne Arsenault and Aldine Gallant each won a $25 gift card to the Wellington Co-op. These three ladies, all residents of Le Chez-Nous home in Wellington, also received small gift bags.

A variety of other prizes were drawn for contest participants: a puzzle, an alarm clock, knitting needles and wool, a candle, canning jars, oven mitts, soap, decorative plates, a potholder, hand cream, notepads, sudoku and word search books, bingo dabbers, packs of playing card, craft kits and various promotional items.

WINNERS TO BE CONTACTED

All prizes earned by Chez-Nous residents have been delivered. Wellington Co-op employees will be contacting the other winners over the next few days to invite them to pick up their prizes at the store.

The knitted items – which included stockings, mittens, toques, scarves, dishcloths, dolls, Christmas characters and more – were on display and for sale by silent auction from Oct. 21-26. All proceeds will be donated to the ABCD Playground at Évangéline School in Abram-Village for the purchase, installation and maintenance of playground equipment. Any unsold items will be donated to the West Prince Caring Cupboard food bank (Tyne Valley branch) for distribution to needy families in the Evangeline-Tyne Valley areas.

Partners in the contest (which was open to people aged 60 and over) included the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI, Wellington Co-op, Provincial Credit Union (Evangeline branch), MacDonald Insurance & Investments (The Co-operators), the Conseil scolaire-communautaire Évangéline, RDÉE Prince Edward Island and the Wellington Rural Action Centre.

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PHOTO 1: Three residents of Le Chez-Nous home were the winners of the main prizes in the 2024 Co-op and Small Business Weeks knitting contest: Wellington Co-op gift cards and small gift bags. Seated, from left, are Yvonne Arsenault, $25 winner, Lucia Arsenault, $100 winner, and Aldine Gallant, $25 winner. Chris O’Brien, manager of the Wellington Co-op, presented the $25 cards, while Alecia Arsenault, coordinator of the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI, sponsored and presented the $100 card.

PHOTO 2: Sponsors of the 2024 Knitting Contest who gathered to admire the knitted pieces on Oct. 25 included, from left, Josée Ouellette of the Wellington Rural Action Centre, Chris O’Brien of the Wellington Co-op, Diane McInnis of Provincial Credit Union (Évangéline branch), Dan MacDonald of MacDonald Insurance and Investments, Alecia Arsenault of the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI (holding the contest’s main prize, a $100 gift card) and Annette Richard of the Conseil scolaire-communautaire Évangéline.

 

For details:
Raymond J. Arsenault
Manager
Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI
raymond@rdeeipe.org
902-960-1285