ANNOUNCING: The Red Scarf Fund For Foster Youth!!

This is the day I've been waiting for and what I tea$ed you about a few weeks ago.  I'm soooo excited about this.

I get to announce the new

Red Scarf Fund For Foster Youth.

When I went to Washington, it was largely for the purpose of pitching the idea of a knitbloggers' scholarship to my friends at the OFA. I explained to them that if there is one thing we knitters and knitbloggers and crocheters can do and do well, it's to rally around a good cause.  And, of course, most importantly for a scholarship/fund type of deal:  Raise Money!

We've been working on this thing together, and Doug Sprei, Director of Communications and Marketing at the OFA, got the Paypal donation site set up this week.  He wrote a nice entry about our meeting in Washington in the OFA blog here. (I lifted his photo, but I don't think he'll mind.)

So the Paypal button was up and running as of August 1st.  I made a donation as quickly as I could after learning that the site was operational, but Doug tells me that a woman from California beat me to it as soon as he put up the button the other night (and before I even knew about it). 

In our meeting, we discussed having the money the knitbloggers raise be earmarked for some special purpose -- for a special group of recipients (i.e., art majors), or a special need (i.e., the Emergency Fund, which can make or break a person's resolve to stay in college). The idea that was most on my mind was to develop a fund for people who have to leave campus for school holidays but have no place to go.  In the end, however, we all decided that the best use of the money we raise is to not earmark it for any one purpose, but to put it in the general fund so it can be used for whatever is most needed at any given time.   

So what do you say?  Shall we dance?  Go ahead, click!  Let's just knock their socks off!

I would love to show them what I can do with a little help from my friends. 

Mary Beth Temple has offered to sweeten the pot a little bit.  How about you make a donation, and then tell me about it in an email to norma[dot]knits[at]gmail[dot]com with the subject line Red Scarf Fund, and I'll put your name in a drawing for a copy of Mary Beth Temple's fun new book, The Secret Language of Knitters.  Sound good?  Thank you, Mary Beth, for the FABULOUS prize donation!  How exciting is that?

ADDENDUM:  Thanks for the great response already, and to answer the recurring question:  Yes, indeed, prize donations will be GRATEFULLY accepted.  This will be an ongoing fundraising initiative, and you know me -- I'll be pestering you from time to time to send in more money when you can.  As we all know, prize offerings are a great incentive for people to pitch in and help.  Thanks for your offerings!

Comments

[michelle]

Well your button worked alright for me - so I'm guessing you got it fixed already. Either that or I just donated money to another red scarf project :)

[Dave Daniels]

Congratulations on getting this all put together.

[Carole]

Terrific!

[Margot]

Awesome!

While I'm sure you wanted to make the first footprints in the snow, isn't it great that there's so much love for this project that someone beat you to it? <3

[JoVE]

This is great. Oddly, our provincial premier was talking on the news today about more scholarship money for kids in care. Of course he is electioneering but it is a very real need.

[ELIZABETH AIRHART]

This is just lovely and a big thank you
norma for people who do not use or have cards or use pay pal
they can send checks to ofa
would it be helpful to post the adress please
the page is a little hard to read on the right side
thank you

[--Deb]

Good for you, Norma!

[Doug Sprei]

I didn't know I'd be learning so much about knitting and kindness when I took this job. :-) Way to go, Norma. . .And good point from Elizabeth above. OFA's address is: Orphan Foundation of America, 21351 Gentry Drive, Suite 130, Sterling VA 20166. Info and guidelines on the Red Scarf Project can be found at: http://www.orphan.org, where you'll find links to the Red Scarf page.

[Lynn]

I have to say you are amazing Norma. You have started something that is really making a difference in these kids lives. I'm almost done with my scarf, another 15" to go.
Will you be starting another flickr group/blog to post pictures on?? Also will there be a way to see how much us knitters raised for OFA?

[Trish]

Great idea!! Will you be accepting other prize donations??

[Kathy]

Rock on. Also happy to send a prize.

[Lee Ann]

You are wicked cool, Norma.

[Annie]

I had the same question as Trish....any need for other prizes?

[Kristen]

Woo-hoo!!!

[Carol]

I went, I saw, I donated.

[Isela]

Awesome! I have a prize to donate.

[Wanda]

Awesome!!

[Lisa]

I'm sure I could find a prize to donate too. Should we send them on to you or hold them to send on ourselves?

[hope]

No need for a prize. The prize is knowing that I've done something good for these students. My first scarf is almost finished and I've already picked out the pattern for the next one. Thanks to you for being so committed to this effort. God bless.

[Debi]

Norma, I think you should run for office! What a cool idea!

I don't think I'm gonna be able to knit any scarves this year because I have some deadline knitting and now that the RSP has changed it's timeline I might not make it -- but now I can still do something this year - YAY! :)