Updates

Greetings to all SBW’s – (Lots of news this time)

The year 2022 was another successful one for Busters.  Two national campaigns in less than a year resulted in more than 800 new requests for Busters and pushed the project to a whole new level.  The PBS NewsHour feature in July 2021 carried over into the early months of 2022 and just when that Blitz began to level off, Pam Kragen wrote a feature story for the San Diego Union-Tribune that was reprinted by 27 major newspapers across the country, and we were off on another big Blitz!

 Because of the increased interest and demand for Busters, we have restructured the project and doubled the size of the team.  There are now six other knitters besides myself – all vetted and trained to artisan standards – working to create Busters.  We all work independently and each of us has her own responsibility to keep the project going.  Pat Hamada makes A-cups, Jan Rillie does B-cups, Pat Anderson does C-cups, Pat Moller does D-cups and Bobbie Weiss does DD-cups.  In addition, K.J. Koljonen backs up on A and B-cups and Alicelynn Cockrill helps with C and D-cups.  This is a crack team of experts, all working together to create a smooth and efficient operation.  I’m SO proud of this group of women and what they can accomplish for the benefit of other survivors!

Our recipients were very generous with their donations. When I closed out the books for 2022, there was a surplus of $12,000 that we donated to the breast cancer support programs of five different hospitals.  Hooray for SBW!

The national recognition we received has had a down-side.  Now that Covid is over, the church-sponsored charity groups have resumed – and they have revived the fad for the  “charity” version of the concept circulating through the amateur knitter’s and social media sites on the internet.  We’ve been keeping a low profile until this fad burns out, and have been using the time to build inventory for our next big Blitz and concentrating on filling reorders from our recipients.  SO……….IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT ORDERING ANOTHER PAIR OF BUSTERS, HERE’S YOUR CHANCE!

This last year was also difficult for us, for we lost a special member of the team.  Kris Osborn was my long-time business partner in Spinshuttle Studio and an unofficial member of the Busters team. It was Kris who first put me onto the idea of handknit prosthetics since she knew I wanted to retire and was looking for a “quiet” retirement project  She knew the business side of the project and did our banking, ordered supplies and kept the computer working and up to date.  In late October 2022, she was admitted to the hospital where it was discovered she was suffering from two unrelated types of cancer – colorectal and also breast cancer. Despite immunotherapy and chemo, the cancer was unstoppable and spread throughout her body.  We lost her on May 25, 2023.  Her name was Kristin (nee Anderson) Osborn and she had just turned 59 years old.  She was my business partner, my protégé and my daughter. 

Hugs,

Pat Anderson