Red Scarf Project

Red Scarf Project
I stumbled across the Red Scarf Project a few weeks ago and was impressed by the mission. New scarf to bring a little joy to foster kids who are going off to college.

Here's a little bit about the project from it's website:

A Great Charitable Knitting Initiative Provides Warmth and Encouragement to Foster Youth

In 2005, OFA launched a unique initiative to send warmth and encouragement to college-bound foster youth. We began taking donations of handmade red scarves to put into our Valentine's Day Care Packages.

Word spread quickly around the charitable knitting/crocheting community. In the first year, we took in 3,500 scarves. The following year, that number swelled to over 15,000.

This deluge of generosity was spurred by a grass roots grapevine effect on the internet, thanks to popular knitting blog sites like Now Norma Knits.

Can you believe it? Due to the overwhelming response, OFA needs to scale the program back in order to be able to handle the demand. And this as we enter our third year!

The reason: our staff and volunteers unpack and store every scarf received, identify recipients, box them up, and ship them out. Most significantly, OFA carries the cash costs of shipping. (Cash donations earmarked toward shipping are cheerfully accepted!)

In short, the amazing work of knitters and donors is matched by a tremendous fulfillment process enabled by OFA staff and volunteers.

The Red Scarf Project is endorsed by Interweave Knits, The National Needle Arts Association, and the Lily Chin Signature Collection.