UK: 12 hours, thousands of stitches, one mission

Dr Caroline Hull and Amy Sabai © ACN

Two members of a Catholic charity team put down their phones and picked up knitting needles and crochet hooks as they completed a 12-hour 'Yarnathon' to support persecuted and other suffering Christians around the world.

As part of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) UK's annual #RedWednesday campaign - raising funds for oppressed Christians - National Director Dr Caroline Hull took on the challenge by knitting a giant throw and a newborn baby's cardigan.

Meanwhile customer services advisor Amy Sabai crocheted a bag and other items to be sold at ACN's #RedWednesday Mass at St George's Cathedral Southwark on 18th November.

Throughout the day, the pair were kept going by colleagues bringing tea, coffee, sweets and chocolate, while staff members dropped by to offer encouragement.

Caroline said: "Twelve hours straight is a challenge. I'm a mature person, so what could be a problem for me is my eyes after doing 12 hours of close work and I'm a little concerned about our hands - that we're going to have two claws by the time we're finished."

She added: "#RedWednesday is important for raising awareness on an issue that's quite easy to brush under the carpet.

"There is a giant global Christian community and some of us are called to witness, to suffer for our faith, to give up or experience all manner of increasingly terrible things. When I travel around the world that's what I tell our beneficiaries. They are not just on the receiving end of our help. The witness they are providing is deepening and strengthening the faith of those of us who are lucky enough to live in places where that's not such a problem."

Describing #RedWednesday as "a time to amplify voices and to give back", Caroline added: "It's a real honour that people choose to support the suffering and persecuted Church through ACN, and it moves me to think: 'What can I do?'

"I don't think people realise they can do a lot of good for charities or causes that they love and use the things that they're good at and they enjoy doing."

Amy said: "Since I started working here three years ago, [Caroline and I] found out we share a passion for crocheting and we've always been talking about doing something together," she said. "Then Caroline came up with this bright-box idea to team up and do this. When I was younger, I used to do granny squares. I used to make bedspreads with my mum using them. I haven't done them since I was a kid, so now I just wing it. I've never learned how to crochet using patterns. I just use my eyes, I have a vision and somehow make it work."

Amy believes crafting can bring people together in an increasingly distracted world.

"It's really relaxing. I think we'd have a more peaceful world if people crocheted."

Amy, who grew up in Tanzania, added: "Where I come from, we call the practice of giving to those less fortunate 'sadaka'. 'Yarnathon' to me is the spirit of community."

That sense of community was also reflected in the experience of colleague Sarah Judge, who was taught to crochet by her daughter, Sophie who has made pom poms, a Santa's sleigh and decorative covers for tubes and boxes of chocolates.

To support Caroline and Amy visit: https://acnuk.donorsupport.co/p2p/teams/NHYNVXTK

The #RedWednesday Mass at St George's Cathedral, Southwark SE1 6HU is on 18th November 2026 at 6pm.