In the past three months I have received more than 2,000 gifts. Each one was given unconditionally — no expectations, no strings attached, no thought of reward. They were given because the givers wanted to help, to provide, to bless, to give without personal compensation beyond the deep satisfaction that comes from giving unconditionally.

As a volunteer for a humanitarian organization, I was tasked to collect handmade hats and scarves and get them to Romania for distribution to Ukrainian refugee children housed there. The assignment felt daunting. To share the load, three months ago I wrote a column about it.

I was not prepared for the response.

The morning that column ran, I received a phone call from “Pat” who told me, “I have 30 knitted hats here. I didn’t know what I was going to do with them. But now I do.”

Pat’s call was the beginning of a deluge, a virtual flood of knitted love that poured into my hands. I can’t name all of you here. Partly because I don’t have the space, and partly because most of you never even shared your name. You just delivered. Again and again.

A high school group created hats with little knitted hearts attached. A senior center cheerfully donated dozens of exceptionally clever items created with aged, expert hands. Church groups and humanitarian organizations added to the growing pile. Family members rousted their friends and brought more. Dozens of other individual creators gave one, five, dozens, hundreds to the cause. And not one single item was ever delivered with any expectation of compensation. Not one.

Other essential, unique gifts were given. Alex, a good friend, quickly, expertly constructed, then administrated our Facebook group page. Every day saw the membership there climb as volunteers joined, asked questions, then got busy knitting and crocheting.

Crystal, another good friend, led me to a church humanitarian group that produces myriads of handmade items. That day we received more than 100 beautiful hats and scarves along with promises of more. Our weekly visits to that generous group of knitters yielded more bagfuls along with invitations to come back again.

Karine brought her church group’s 100-plus hats and scarves to my home and then, sensing my need for help, stayed for hours to put notes in each item and prepare them for shipping.

Absolutely crucial to the project’s success was my nephew, Daren, a logistics and shipping manager who, with this work team, cheerfully and willingly hand packed every single item, then shipped them to Romania. Without his unique gift, we had no way to get your gifts delivered.

I now know what a pile of 1,000-plus hats and scarves look like. We sent three shipments to Romania. The third — the largest of all — totaled 1,094. The first and second shipments combined totaled 1,072. Altogether, 2,166 handmade hats and scarves were given. The thousands of hours required to make those gifts is mind boggling. Who could have imagined we would collectively knit, note, sort, tag, bag and ship more than 2,000 gifts to refugee children within three months’ time. This intermediary recipient is humbled, inspired and awed by the miracle of it all. The final recipients will be surprised, happy, grateful — and warmed both in body and spirit.

I also now know what unconditional giving looks like. Feels like. Is like. Along with these knitted creations, you donors gave the gift of yourselves. Your example is a peace filled, goodwill beginning to this wondrous Christmas season of giving.

There really is such a thing as the perfect gift.

D. Louise Brown lives in Layton. She writes a biweekly column for the Standard-Examiner.

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