Hats for the Homeless

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Hats for the Homeless

hats for the homeless

Winter is very hard on the homeless that roam the streets by day and desperately try to keep warm by night. Their plight is especially tough during the Holiday season when they are so alone with no family, no Thanksgiving feast, no warm Christmas cheer from friends, no gifts under a Christmas tree. Many only have faint childhood memories to fill their souls.

Hats for the Homeless grew out of the heart of one young man who cared about those less fortunate. Each year he would gather friends during the Holiday season and together they would roam the NYC streets giving hats, scarves and gloves to the homeless. He died suddenly in 1998.

Hats for the Homeless was created in his memory to continue the tradition he started. Through Hats for the Homeless, his family and friends crochet, knit and collect hats, scarves and gloves throughout the year. The weekend before Christmas at St. Francis Xavier's Soup Kitchen on West 15th Street in NYC, we distribute all these items to the homeless that flow through St. Francis Xavier's doors. We see somber faces turn to grateful smiles. Sometimes they exchange the gifts with one another for a more needed item. Sometimes they come back looking for more. It is heart-wrenching as the number of homeless grows each year and there is not a gift for everyone.

We ask that you make Hats for the Homeless part of your Holiday Traditions. If you know how to crochet or knit or would like to just donate a hat, scarf or pair of gloves, then send them to the address below. Please do not send money. The warm gift-giving feeling that comes with giving this gift will surpass any other gift you give this Holiday season.

 

Links:

Hats 4 the Homeless Website

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What a great tradition to start for the Holidays each year. Get a group of people to knit or crochet all through the year and put then everyone can put them all together around November and send them in so they can be handed out to homeless men,women and children. Or even maybe check out your homeless shelters or soup kitchens. I will try and get back into knitting or crocheting to make some hats or scarfs. This will be greatly appreciated I am sure. If everyone would just do one it will make a difference in this world. After all we need some good in this world to make it a better place for all.

I would love the patterns for the sewing of the hats and neckups I have crochet 100's of hats. This would be a change of pace for me now that I am retired.

I used to sell hats and scarf this past year. I even raise funds for our church thru the proceeds. I crochet a lot last year, and I have tons of hats and scarves remaining in my cabinet. I just wonder if somebody out there is in need of this item, so please let me know

I just printed out infor on hats4thehomeless they may be interested.

I can neither knit nor crochet but I do sew I make items for giving to specific groups I began many years ago when my DD was student teaching and some of her students didn't have warm items and some that could afford them were picked up so early they usually forgot them Students without proper apparel can't go out for recess and thus that minutes needed to prepare the room for the teaching session was gone We didn't want to differentiate between have and have nots I made different hat mitten scarf or neck up from fleece that they left at school and were considered recess mittens I also made a whole bunch of extras that the school counselors could give to the really needy There is no specific pattern I use some were free some I made up some I adapted After years other people have begun adopting otherRead More classrooms for similar giving The teachers get minute break the students get their squirms out on the playground and the kids without extras are just as special as the kids with I buy cheapo remnants of printed fleece and combine with real polartec polar fleece using the printed cheapo for trim and using the heavy polartec for mitten palms and over the ears I end up making mostly loose turtle neck neckups instead of scarves since the kids are in - grade and aren't real good at keeping them tied The sets I make for our homeless shelter are all polartec and all in dark colors I do bright colors for kids to be given at the women's shelter and have even done baby buntings and matching mommy hats and scarves for the maternity section Last year I made Pair of polartec socks in multiple sizes out of Coyote brown and sent to the young man my granddaughter knew who was in Afghanistan I sent pair and when he raved about the warmth of them I offered to make different sizes for the guys in his tent who knew there were more people I took off a week of work a vacation for me to sew and sewed day and night I found that it worked to differentiate between sizes by setting up a color code I zig zag the tops of my socks and found that if I used a Coyote brown that showed on the outside I could use a differnt color in the top thread Red became one size then yellow etc It also worked at home when I made socks for my family out of solid color We'd been using the match the feet size which didn't always work but this did I am not bragging I am simply using this as an opportunity to share other ways to affect the ones in our community who could use a helping hand

I would love to do this. I have tried to find the patterns for this hats mittens and scarfs. I already make hats and scarfs for my cancer hospital. I would love to do this as a holiday treat for the homeless but need to find the patterns. Can anyone help? Thanks

Hello,just go to your search engine and type in free crochet hat patterns and you will get hundreds to choose from and anything else you want to crochet or knit..God Bless.

I did this starting about 5 years ago in 2008 before I knew there was an actual charity for it. I do it for my own community, however, and give the items I make to specific organizations that deal directly with the homeless.

I started crocheting hats for homeless about 5 years ago. I'd make a bunch of them every month then take the finished ones into workers at the Canadian Mental Health Association who worked with homeless people, and they handed them out to those in need who wanted one. I also make Granny Square Slippers for people in the Psychiatric Ward of our hospital. Many people go in with only the clothes on their back, but have to dress in hospital attire...at least they have a pair of slippers of their own to walk in and keep warm with.

If you can afford it, wool is warmer than acrylic, AND can still keep a person warm while wet. I find bargains on 100% wool yarn on e-bay; I lowball bid and see what I can get. I can make nice warm felted slippers from multiple strands of thin wool, or anything else you can knit with acrylic yarn. Socks are great because feet get wet, and then cotton or synthetic socks are useless, but wet wool socks hold in the warmth.

Another place to get a good deal on yarns is www.smileysyarns.com

This is so worth while, People who need our help. I was wondering what i was going to do with left over yarn from other projects. Glad to help. Thank you for the info.

Anyone looking to donate any kind of hats/scarves/etc, contact any local shelters or soup kitchens to see if they need any help or donations! Also, look online for local groups or organizations that are looking. There are address online to send goods to help those from Hurricane Sandy, and there's a group on facebook called Emily's Hats for Hopes Initiative: https://www.facebook.com/EmilysHatsForHopeInitiative?fref=ts . You can even go to her website and look for local chapters to donate locally. As for patterns, I've been finding free patterns on Pinterest, as well as great tutorials on youtube! There's SO much out there! I donated a bunch of scarves to the local Illinois chapter for Emily's Hats in December, and just learned how to make hats knitting in the round! Looks like I'm gonna be busy making more stuff to donate!

Well, it is so nice to be able to help people who have far less than we have. I just wished, some of the persons are making hat's or scarfs - would give a address or something, so some of us could get in touch to make it for them. Than, we could do with some patterns for the hats? perhaps?? It would be very nice.

What a wonderful way to share your talents of crocheting and knitting. Who knows how many lives you could touch. Great way to "Pay it Forward".

In Idaho,It reminds me of Dorcas, Acts 9:36.

love this idea...my daughter is doing something along the same line here in ravenna ohio on sunday...she is calling it "Souper Sunday" and giving out soup,chili and warm hats,gloves,scarves and donated blankets

kittymay, your daughter is amazing! Tell her to keep up the great work! We need more people like her in the world.

What a great thing to do. I don't think we have anything like this in Britain

We have been making hats for our Missionary in Mongolia to take there for the last 4 years. very rewarding when you see a pix with the hat on and a big smile.

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