It was five years ago that knitters gathered in the
library of a neighborhood church and launched the Hats for the Homeless
project; word quickly spread to knitters in our community and 300 hats were collected.
Read on about the amazing number of donations we received this year. We now
have hats coming in from all across the country.
Early December volunteers gathered at Steven B’s yarn
shop in Minneapolis to count and to sort hats to get ready for distribution. We
counted, we sorted, we made huge piles of hats for men, women, and children – 1700
hats had been knit along with 250 scarves. This was early December and within
the next two weeks 800 more hats arrived along with 140 scarves! We ended up
collecting 2500 hats and close to 400 scarves.
With this amazing number of hats and scarves, we were
able to donate to 26 agencies and schools in our community that serve the
homeless and those marginally housed. As we delivered the goods to these agencies,
we talked to the people in charge and asked for feedback and how we could best
serve their needs. Based on this information, we are making some changes for
2015.
- With the early onset of cold weather in 2014, we have
decided to deliver hats and scarves to the agencies in late October—early
November so that they are prepared when the cold weather hits.
- After reading recent articles in the newspaper about
homeless statistics in our community and talking with school social workers, we
will be collecting hats for school aged kids and delivering them to schools
serving a high population of homeless kids.
- This year for the first time, homeless people
standing in line on a bitter cold day waiting for a hot lunch at Mary’s Place,
asked for scarves. We need more scarves.
A warm thanks to all the knitters in our community and
across the country who knit for the project and in turn tell their friends
about the project. People often ask me how many people are knitting for the
project…my answer, “I don’t know…but many.” When knitting hats and scarves,
keep in mind we are going after WARMTH….hats
that are long enough to cover the ears and have a wide enough cuff to double up
for extra protection and scarves should be about 8 inches wide and at least 42
inches long.
Barbara Melom
