North Ridgeville Review The Community That Cares
Throughout the month of January, the Domonkas Branch honors the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through community service. We provide open sessions of knitting and crochet, with the intent of donating the completed hats, scarves and gloves to a local charity at the end of the month.
“It is a great opportunity to learn a new skill, meet new community members and so something nice for a neighbor in need,” Branch Manager Bethany Bonafield said. “If patrons have items such as blankets, hats, scarves and gloves that they’ve created at home we’ll gladly accept those as well.”
Staff member Beth Collins, who is now an Assistant Branch Manager at the Main Library in Lorain, started the initiative in 2018.
“I was reading about the history of MLK Day, and was inspired by Coretta Scott King’s words of how she honors her husband through community service,” Collins said. “We had a regularly meeting knit and crochet group who made such beautiful pieces and I knew there was a need in the surrounding communities for items like hats and scarves, so I thought this was a great way of honoring the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. and celebrating the day through active community service.”
A local Joann Fabrics location heard about the inaugural Month of Service through a News Channel 5 story, prompting the crafting super store to donate yarn, a gift box of supplies and a hundred-dollar gift card which was used to purchase knitting and crochet supplies for community use in future Months of Service.
In 2025, the Month of Service program marked a milestone of over 1,000 items donated locally since its inception.
Multiple entities have benefited from the initiative: Mercy Cancer Center received 200 donated blankets, hats, scarves and gloves in 2019 and another 150 items in 2020. In 2021, 387 items were donated to St. Elizabeth Center in Lorain, over 400 items to the United Way in 2022, with another 260 items to them in 2023. In 2024, 200 items were split between We Care, We Share and Sheffield Lake Elementary Schools and in 2025, 105 items were split between Knollwood Elementary School and St. Elizabeth Center.
Donations from the 2026 Month of Service will be donated to United Way.
