LEXINGTON, Ky. _ Central Kentuckians have joined a worldwide movement to craft pouches and nests for animals displaced by the wildfires burning across Australia.
Missy Johnston, costumer for the Theater Department at Transylvania University, has been busy during her free time mobilizing Lexington friends and Transy students to make wallaby and kangaroo pouches, bat wraps and nests for birds, mice and other small animals.
So far, she's hosted three crafting sessions in the basement of the Mitchell Fine Arts Building, and more are being planned.
"It's nice to feel like you're doing something," Johnston said. "These are really specialized things that they need, and you can't go out and buy them."
People who can't sew have pitched in to help too, by donating supplies and money to help pay for postage.
On a recent Saturday afternoon, Johnston said one woman had just left who "brought hundreds of dollars worth of flannel sheets" that will be cut up and turned into pouches. One piece of fabric was printed with tiny koalas.
Johnston said she's currently focusing on large pouches, since that's what she's learned is currently needed the most.
"Apparently, they're good on small pouches and koala mittens," she said.
Similar efforts have been taking place elsewhere as people respond to images of koalas, kangaroos and other animals singed by the fires raging across the Australian continent.
The Berea College Theatre Laboratory planned to host a crocheting and knitting session in partnership with Animal Rescue Collective Craft Guild on Saturday as well, according to a Facebook post shared by the department.
While Johnston cut out fabric for pouches in Transylvania's costume shop, her friend Bettye Burns sewed wraps that will keep injured bats cozy as they recover.
Burns said she wanted to be a part of the effort because seeing the pictures of the devastation brought on by the wildfires is painful.
"Any little thing I can do," she said.
"How perfect do my corners have to be?" she asked Johnston.
"Not perfect," Johnston replied. "It's a bat."
For Johnston, the work also serves as a way to honor her mother, who died in November.
"I grew up with a mother who rescued every animal that came across her doorstep," she said.
Growing up in North Carolina, she said her family played host to an alligator for a while and a dog that had been injured by a bullet.
If her mother were here, "she'd be knitting them a sweater," she said.
