About Warm Up America! Foundation and How to Get Involved | Podcast Episode #46

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Why Warm Up America Foundation?

The Warm Up America Foundation, founded by one giving woman in 1991, is one incredible organization to consider when looking for a charity to donate your crochet and knit gifts. I have worked with their team for three years now and in this time have come to see just how caring and passionate they are about helping others. If you’re looking for the perfect home for your gift, I encourage you to listen to this week’s episode to learn why Warm Up America! Foundation may be the right choice.

You’ll Learn About

• How Warm Up America Foundation began.
• Who might be drawn to choose Warm Up America! as their charity of choice to donate to.
• The process behind finding the perfect home for your gift.
• The kind of donations they receive and how they choose the right recipient for each one.
• Different ways you can get involved with WUA and all the wonderful things they have going on.

Episode Transcript

Brittany: 0:00
You’re listening to the B Hooked Podcast, session number 46 with Brittany. Hey there, welcome to episode number 46 of the BHooked podcast. I’m your host, Brittany, and I have a very exciting guest for you today.

Well, if you haven’t noticed yet, January is Crochet for Charity month over at BHooked, and every single episode of the podcast in the month of January is going to feature some topic related to crocheting for charity. So back in the first episode of the year, we heard about different organizations that we can get involved with.

Well, this week we’re going to talk with Mary Colucci from the Craft Yarn Council. She is one of the head women behind Warm Up America. Next week, we’re actually going to be really diving into the Crochet Challenge for Warm Up America. So I’m going to tell you all about that challenge, what you need to do to get involved, everything in that episode.

And then we’re going to hear from Barbara Demarest from Knitted Knockers. You can hear all about that organization as well.

Well, I am so excited about the opportunity to share some of these organizations with you. I strongly encourage you to find some time, if at all possible, to maybe craft for somebody else this month in January.

Well, there is no sponsor in the month of January because I want to take that time to simply encourage you to do this. If you have the time, if you have the spare yarn, please help a family in need. If you need any help from me whatsoever, I am here because I want to make this happen.

There are tons of free patterns available on my website, behookedcrochet.com. You can use any of those free patterns, most of them having tutorials. You can use those to create your items, to donate to your favorite charity.

Or you can get involved on a larger scale next week when I announce the Crochet Challenge for Warm Up America. So you’ll hear about the dates. We’re not actually starting the challenge next week, but we’re really preparing for it.

Okay, a couple orders of business here. Before we get into my chat with Mary, the show notes page can be found at behookedcrochet.com slash session 046. And everything that Mary and I talk about, the links, the resources, everything is going to be on that page. So you can feel free to visit that page so you can do a little bit more investigating in Warm Up America and finding ways that it will be your charity of choice this month when we’re celebrating Crochet for Charity.

Now you can also leave your questions and comments on that page. If you scroll down below the information, you’ll find the comment section and you’re welcome to leave any questions or comments you have. I monitor those on a pretty regular basis. And so if you have a question, you know I’m gonna answer you. If you have a comment, I will do my absolute best to reply as quickly as I possibly can.

And those of you who are in the community, if you know the answer to somebody’s question, or if you have something nice or friendly to say about a comment that was left, please feel free to do so. That space is yours. It is your community board. And I encourage you to comment and mingle with each other as you wish.

Well, I hope that you’ll see through this interview why Warm Up America is my organization of choice and hearing from Mary and their mission and all of the really great things that they have going on, the wonderful team that’s behind Warm Up America.

I just want to introduce Mary Colucci. She is a wonderful, kind soul, and I hope you all really enjoy her message today. Mary, hi, welcome to the BHooked podcast.

Mary: 4:29
Thanks, Brittany. It’s nice to be here.

Brittany: 4:32
It’s such a pleasure having you. I’m so excited about another challenge this year. This is the third year we’ve done the Crochet Challenge for Warm Up America. And my audience is super excited about it. I’m really excited. And I’m so glad that you’re here.

You’re going to spend some time with us today talking about the Warm Up America Foundation. I really want to get people excited and feel like they have a way to really connect. And so it makes this challenge that much more special for them.

So the first thing I want to do is start with the mission of Warm Up America. Can you share that with us?

Mary: 5:11
Oh, absolutely. Well, the Warm Up America Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit, and our mission has always been first to motivate volunteers to crochet and knit afghans and articles of clothing for people in need.

Then we also have the mission of collecting items and then also distributing them to folks around the country—agencies, whatever. We maintain a database in our office. We receive requests for afghans and/or accessory items from social service agencies, veterans hospitals, shelters, a variety of organizations.

And we maintain these requests on the database and then we do our best to fulfill the needs of each of these organizations.

Brittany: 6:14
That’s really great. It sounds like you, it’s like a one-stop thing. You guys do everything. It makes it easy for the volunteer. It probably makes it easy for the person who is accepting the donations. So that’s really cool.

How did something like this get started and how long has it been around?

Mary: 6:34
Well, it was started by Evie Rosen, who for over 30 years ran a yarn store in Wausau, Wisconsin. She was an avid knitter, and on her own, she would always try to complete afghans for a local shelter.

And there was such a need that she decided there had to be a way to engage more people to help her fulfill the needs in their community.

She came up with the idea of breaking down the process of making an afghan, and she came up with this template, a 7 by 9 inch section, which she thought anyone could make one section to help out.

What happened was that people would make one or two or three and then wind up making an entire afghan.

But based on that template, she then designed different sized afghans. They could be an adult size, a child size, an infant size, lap robe, whatever.

And it really did serve to engage more people because I know you’ve done afghans. It’s a process. It involves, it’s timely, very time consuming.

And somehow if you break it down, it mentally engaged a lot of people. She soon had so many of her customers helping out.

And as she said, it also is a great way to use up all those odd moments balls of yarn that we don’t want to part with because they’re beautiful. We all have that stash.

Then what happened was a local newspaper wrote a story about how they were contributing to shelters in the community. Then the state newspaper wrote about the program.

Evie was also involved with a retailer organization, which was involved with the National Needlework Association, another trade association.

It just took off from there because other store retailers got engaged in the program and it grew and grew.

Initially, the National, well it’s now known as the National Needle Arts Association supported Evie and then she worked with the Craft Yarn Council as the program got larger.

The council now generously supports Warm Up America by providing us with office space at their office in Carleton, Texas.

Brittany: 9:29
That’s such a cool story. When did you say she started all this?

Mary: 9:33
Oh, 1991 into 1992. So there have been a lot of afghans assembled since that time. Hundreds of thousands.

She always envisioned Warm Up America as being a program of neighbors helping neighbors.

So much comes through our offices, but there are also groups around the country that regularly support Warm Up America and then donate what they make to organizations in their own communities.

We don’t have official chapters; we aren’t allowed to because of our charter.

But those groups are beautiful too. We always encourage if there’s a group that wants to get engaged and distribute what they make in their own community.

We think it’s terrific, so it’s in keeping with what Evie would have loved.

Brittany: 10:35
Well, you guys are a pro now with that many years of experience and that many afghans donated. That’s really cool.

Mary: 10:50
Our only challenge is keeping pace with the thousands of individual sections we get, and they all have to be joined together.

So we have some amazing volunteers locally in Texas and around the country that help us assemble the seven-by-nine-inch sections into these beautiful patchwork afghans.

It’s a process, but it gets done, and we’re delighted with the support of all our volunteers.

Brittany: 11:26
That’s a really good segue into the types of donations you accept, because I know it’s not just afghans and afghan sections.

Can we maybe break that down a little bit just so people have an idea if this is going to be the right organization for them to work with?

Some people love making afghans. Some people don’t. Like you said, some just have time for little sections. And we like to pick and choose our projects.

Mary: 11:53
Absolutely.

Brittany: 11:55
What are your, not necessarily your current needs, but if you could kind of put an umbrella around the types of donations you receive, what would they be?

Mary: 12:06
Well, it started initially as afghans, afghan sections, but it quickly grew to be much more because people felt that people also needed hats or they needed scarves.

Some people have sent us sweaters. It really is an ongoing, expanding effort.

As long as it’s crocheted or knitted, we do our best to find the appropriate agency to distribute these products to.

Where there’s a need, we try to make that connection.

And, you know, I think for all of us at different times, you want to support one type of project and then you might switch to another.

It is tied to our current needs. We work with so many organizations around the country.

So, you know, we may need preemie caps for one project, scarves for another.

And it just goes, you know, it changes as our needs change, as the requests come in.

We once had a project with a Ronald McDonald House that had received a donation of Build-A-Bear.

They had bears, and they asked us if our volunteers would make sweaters. And they did. How sweet.

So we just never know where those requests will come from. We try to do our best to find a solution for the organization that needs them.

Brittany: 13:58
Yeah. So it sounds like you definitely don’t turn anything away. So if somebody has the time right now, they have the yarn right now for a specific type of project and they want to make it, they can send it in no matter what. You’re definitely not going to turn it away, but you’re going to find the appropriate home for it. But maybe on more of the larger scale, kind of like what we’re doing for the challenge, if an organization contacts you for a larger quantity, that’s kind of when you send out maybe a call for help or a request for volunteers.

Mary: 14:48
Our website, which is warmupamerica.org, really is, you know, the source of all the information about our current needs, ideas for patterns for the sections and how to, you know, the different items that the different size Afghans that we might need, or how to construct different sized Afghans joining sections. We have a wealth of information there. And I would always direct people there. And we also, you know, on our Facebook page, have… you know, announce if we have special requests and reach out to our followers. We have, what we started recently is a Facebook Live session on Tuesdays. Yeah. And what Dion Pinder and Sarah Gunther in our office did—they open up boxes that we’ve received and they show the type of donations that we’re getting. So if people have a chance to visit our Facebook page and look at some of the items that are coming in and see our little office, it would be great fun for them to get an overview of what we actually do receive.

Brittany: 16:26
That’s a wonderful idea. I think it’s really important for people to see that kind of stuff so they can really be inspired and motivated by what they’re seeing. And just you guys allowing us to kind of be a part of that is really special.

Mary: 16:45
Well, and it’s our way of… You know, being able to say thank you to the people, you know, in a way that it is amazing when we open these boxes and there’s such beautiful things. And what I’ve always appreciated is the quality of the items that we receive. And the folks that have participated in your past campaigns have contributed some of the most beautiful items.

Brittany: 17:17
Well, thank you.

Mary: 17:18
They do a terrific job. Fabulous.

Brittany: 17:21
The 2017 challenge, man, that’s going to be a really difficult one for me to follow up on. I’ll be completely honest about that. I, I set some large shoes for myself with that pattern because it was just, it’s a stunning pattern paired with a stunning yarn. So, I mean, gosh, it’s, I’m struggling to feel like I can make something that’s even better than that. And if people want to see that, it is still available. The pattern and tutorial will live forever. I’m sure you guys are happy and willing to accept those donations as well. But we will have a new pattern for the 2018 challenge just to keep things fun and interesting and mix it up a little bit. But that pattern is available if you want to check it out.

Mary: 18:06
That’s beautiful. Very.

Brittany: 18:08
Well, you mentioned you have patterns on your website, too. That is really, really great because a lot of people, they have the time to make the project, but they don’t really know what to make. And that kind of gives them a path to go down.

Mary: 18:23
Well, and it gives you some idea of, you know, the size. And, you know, the patterns are designed to be that one template size. But… I think it’s a fun way, too, of introducing a different stitch pattern. Of course, we have a basic single crochet or double crochet, but there are other patterns that people might like to experiment with that we’ve tried to add at the website. And it is a great way to try out new stitches. Yeah. We always encourage that. As long as the yarn is something that is easy care, there really are no limits. More textured stitches work beautifully. So there are lots of options available.

Brittany: 19:20
That brings up the question, too. Do people have to use the patterns that are available on your website, or they can find a pattern somewhere else?

Mary: 19:29
Oh, they can. They can, you know, anything they feel comfortable doing is appreciated. And the other point is, you know, Evie came up with this template, but we always say to people, if you want to make three, don’t stop. Don’t make the individual one. You know, just keep going. Just keep crocheting until you feel comfortable to stop or make an entire afghan. They’re really, you know, that template is made for those people who only might want to do one or just use up a particular skein of yarn. But we, there’s a lot of flexibility.

Brittany: 20:15
That’s great. Let’s talk about yarn a little bit too, because I feel like some questions could come out of that as well. You said easy care. Can you, can you outline what are the specific things people should look for?

Mary: 20:29
We always recommend acrylic yarn that can be machine washable and dryable because for people, you know, in shelters, they don’t have access to dry cleaning. So it’s the most efficient thing for them. And, you know, there are washable wools that could work. If somebody does have, say, a washable wool, if they want to use that, that’s okay, but it’s helpful for them to mark it so we’ll know what fiber it is because it’s sometimes difficult to tell. But the best for us is to have an acrylic fiber that’s machine washable and dryable.

Brittany: 21:26
Do you recommend that people include a tag or a little card inside their donation box that tells you guys exactly what yarn they used?

Mary: 21:39
We’ve never required that. I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary unless there’s something unusual with the fiber that they would like us to know. Because I think most of the donations that we receive tend to be, you know, those easy care yarns. So I don’t think that’s necessary.

Brittany: 22:06
Okay. What about maybe a personalized note? I know that’s something that we have included in the challenge because I think that’s just one extra thing. But do people normally do that?

Mary: 22:16
We hope they do. Sometimes we’re so frustrated because, well… Whenever we receive a donation, we acknowledge it with a postcard. And we love to read notes from people about, you know, maybe it’s a group and why they decided to, you know, support Warm Up America in this way. Or maybe when they were an individual who, when they were doing this, what they were thinking about. It’s just such a lovely, I think, completes the circle, if you will, of that giving that is so wonderful. So we look forward to those notes and we keep them because it’s wonderful to read about people’s engagement with Warm Up America.

Brittany: 23:11
Yeah. Well, you mentioned groups. So I’m curious now to maybe dive into who… who typically would donate to Warm Up America and maybe who might be drawn to it if they haven’t donated to it already. Why might somebody choose this organization to support and who might that person be?

Mary: 23:35
Well, what has always amazed us is, you know, we’ve had kids as young as five get involved and as old as 95. I don’t think there’s an age limit. And I think it’s something that both individuals and groups feel comfortable doing. And I know because of my association with the Craft Yarn Council, when we look at the research that was conducted with crocheters and knitters around the country, people are very generous with their time. And more than the majority of crocheters and knitters contribute to some charity project in the course of a year. And many do multiple charity projects. So I think that it’s something, a program that all ages can engage in, and I know I’m a big supporter of engaging children in this effort, and we love to work with teachers, but also groups, individuals, guilds.

I know this past year, the Crochet Guild of America sponsored a Warm Up America chapter challenge, and all the participating chapters of the national organization created afghans and individual sections. And we wound up with over 10,000 sections. And so it was a competition for them, but they had so much fun. And at their annual convention in July, a lot of the volunteers assembled afghans and distributed them. So I don’t know that there’s any special group or individual. I just think we are very lucky to work with very generous and talented people. And they give up their time and talent to support Warm Up America and other industry charities, which are, I think, benefiting so many people who might not have the ability to have these warm afghans and clothing.

Brittany: 26:37
Well, it sounds like anybody is the right person to donate. I’m curious to talk a little bit about or just kind of bounce some ideas off of you to people who are involved in groups because it’s absolutely wonderful to donate what you can as an individual. But for somebody who has access to a group of people, I mean, just think about the bigger impact that you can make there. So bloggers are the first thing that come to mind. I do have a lot of bloggers in the audience. Just forming some kind of a scheduled event or something like that is a great option. It’s worked really well for the challenges that we have every year. But some other things that come into mind are, people at churches, a lot of times there will be knitter crochet groups within churches or at yarn shops. I’m also thinking about coworkers a lot of times.

Mary: 27:39
Oh, lunchtime. Lunchtime’s a great time. Great time. You know, even if you, I know you understand this and I know your listeners will too. You know, sometimes just picking up your hook or your needles for 30 minutes, it’s so soothing. And it’s just, it breaks down barriers too, you know, if you’re in that group setting. Yeah, in a work situation. You know, you’re coming from different areas and or a guild situation. You know, people from different walks of life come together. But, you know, you sit down and you share this common interest. And it’s a lovely time to talk and share. And it’s always great to lean over to the person next to you and say, what do you think of this? If, you know, you have a question. And I think for groups, what can… It can be kind of multifaceted. For instance, one of the things that I always like to do if I’m at a consumer show is to talk about joining. Because whether you’re joining Afghan sections or pieces of a sweater or whatever, there’s some wonderful things that you can do. And I think it’s a great opportunity for a group if they are interested in joining, you know, working on Warm Up America to also encourage maybe members to do different stitches and then have a whole lesson on how to join sections together. So it could be a real learning process as well as a giving.

Brittany: 29:19
That’s a great idea to get people involved too. I’m curious about the process that happens. Once you receive a donation, what happens next? And do you have just one office full of volunteers that help? How does the process look when you receive something?

Mary: 29:43
Well, we have a wonderful coordinator, April Sorenson, and she works with local volunteers at our Carrollton office. But even just the process of opening boxes can be a day-long event. And then what happens is that the sections are sorted, and then depending on what our current needs are, they might be bagged. For instance, to create a full-size Afghan, you need 49 of these individual sections. So they do their best to coordinate colors, and then bag the required number of sections to make a specific sized afghan. And then there are volunteers that come in and take these bags and assemble them. We also have groups and individuals around the country that will join. We send a certain number of sections, maybe 500 sections or something, and they will assemble them and then distribute them to a social service agency that we’re connected with in their community. So the assembly process is the ongoing challenge, but fortunately we have been helped out by some wonderful volunteers, both locally and around the country.

Brittany: 31:28
How would somebody get in contact if they were interested in volunteering? You said your local office is in Carrollton, so if there are any listeners in the Carrollton area, then how would that person maybe do whatever they could to help, whether it be joining squares or whatever else you need help with?

Mary: 31:47
Well, I would recommend if they could email… April Soren if it’s just april at warmupamerica.org and introduce yourselves and that would be a wonderful first step and that way April would be able to explain exactly how we do it when we do it and it would be a great introduction.

Brittany: 32:14
Perfect. How about people who might not be in the Carrollton area? How would they go about getting involved in helping?

Mary: 32:23
Well, also at the website, we have a little information about perhaps starting a group. You mentioned church groups and synagogues, and there are so many informal groups as well that… We just have some suggestions of ways that you might start. And it’s a wonderful first step, I think, in getting a group organized to have, you know, this one charity objective. And then it grows from there.

Brittany: 33:02
Okay. Well, that sounds so simple. I mean, you guys make it so easy for people. It’s really wonderful.

Mary: 33:09
Well… Evie had always said to just keep it simple. And it really, you know, because of, as I said earlier, because of our charter, we don’t have official chapters. And, you know, we just work with groups around the country and support what they’re doing. And we think it should be kept simple because the concept is getting the people you know, the donations to the people who need it.

Brittany: 33:44
And it’s always easy for somebody to take that first step if everything is spelled out for them. People will be more likely to take that first step, I guess I should say, if everything is easy and simple and straight to the point. And it sounds like you guys have that down. So what I want to do is I will include April’s email in the show notes. That way… People don’t have to worry about spelling or remembering. They can just head over to the show notes and shoot her an email if they’re interested in getting involved, whether they be a blogger or a group or maybe just an individual who has some free time on their hands.

Mary: 34:24
That would be great.

Brittany: 34:25
And also we’ll link to maybe, is there a specific page on the website where people can see exactly how they can get involved, like what the current need is?

Mary: 34:35
Absolutely. I, you know, I can send you all those links and we can include that in the show notes.

Brittany: 34:42
That would be perfect. That way people can just click and see what they need to see.

Mary: 34:47
And we also have a newsletter, uh, Brittany, and if people are interested in receiving it, they can go to the website and just click on that and, um, we will be happy to keep them updated. Um, through the newsletter as well. And we like to highlight some of our volunteers. And if we have new patterns, we’d like to preview them in the newsletter. So we’d love people to join.

Brittany: 35:19
Awesome. Okay. We’ll link to that as well. I want to spend a couple of times… You’ve mentioned a couple of instances here where you have these wonderful people on your team. And I really would love to kind of peel back the layers a little bit and allow people the opportunity to get to know some of the people who are volunteering their time and just helping to keep this organization to thrive like it is. So… Can you maybe share a little bit about, well, first of all, what is your role within Warm Up America?

Mary: 35:53
Well, I serve as executive director for Warm Up America, which means I oversee the kind of day-to-day operations. And we have an advisory committee, and we have a president who is currently Rita Weiss. Rita may be a name familiar to some of your listeners because she was a longtime associate of Jean Leinhauser, and they started the Crochet Partners. Ah, okay. Right? And she really is an amazing person. Editor. She has published endless number of wonderful books. And we’re delighted to have Rita as the current president. And because of our affiliation with Craft Yarn Council. We are so pleased that Jenny Bassinet is our assistant executive director, and the Craft Yarn Council staff gets pulled into everything Warm Up America. And April really is our only employee, so to speak, and she works part-time and keeps us all honest. Whoa. And then, as I said, we have local volunteers that come in and assist April. And so we work really hard to get the word out about the program and engage as many volunteers as we can.

Brittany: 37:43
And you mentioned someone else, too, who does the Facebook Live. Does she work within your main location there? Yes. What’s her role?

Mary: 37:56
Dion Pinder. She is Craft Yarn Council and Warm Up America’s social media director. And she… does an amazing job along with Sarah Gunther, who is the coordinator for PR for Warm Up America and Craft Yarn Council. See, as I say, there’s more. They work primarily for Craft Yarn Council, but we get some very talented people involved who get to volunteer their time to help us out. And of course, I think it’s one of those feel-good projects that no one objects to working on and enjoys that ability to support it. In fact, one of our recent initiatives was to support the families along the Gulf Coast that were so devastated by Hurricane Harvey. And Sarah actually went with her church group to the Houston area right after the flood to deliver Afghans. And, yeah, everybody’s involved, and they’re so supportive. So it’s a… great.

Brittany: 39:31
It really is. It’s a great program and there’s great people behind it. You make it easy for us, make it easy for me every year that we, that we do these challenges. And there’s really something to be said about all that. If, if you’re interested in getting involved in anything, I mean, this is one organization that you can really rally behind and know that, that not only are they making it easy for you, but they are doing absolutely everything they can to maximize your impact.

Mary: 40:08
Well, I don’t know what else to say. Well,

Brittany: 40:15
That silence says a lot, actually. I really… stand behind Warm Up America 100%. That’s why I continue to go back to it year after year and hope to continue to do so into the future. The one thing I wanted to mention is, well, of course, we’re preparing for the 2018 challenge. And while I have you on the line here, I was hoping that maybe you could tell us a little bit about the organization where our blankets are going to be going to this year? Oh,

Mary: 40:53
I’d be delighted. For the past six and seven years, Warm Up America has worked with Morehead State University, based in Kentucky, on something they have called the Build a Bed Project. And what they do at Morehead in conjunction with local AmeriCorps volunteers and the students and faculty — they literally build beds. The project is designed to promote healthy bedtime rituals and improve quality of sleep for children, particularly in the eastern Kentucky area, who might not even have a bed to sleep in. And so in addition to the bed with the mattress and the bedding, they provide each of the children with a basket which has books and a teddy bear and everything personal for bedtime care. Warm Up America has always provided Afghans or throws to put on the bed for all these years. And we feel it’s such a community-based effort. As a result of the work that these volunteers do, literally thousands of beds have been made for children across areas of Kentucky that have helped to, as they say, create happier days, brighter dreams, and more opportunities for a lifetime of success for them to have their own beds. I mean, you know, the things we take so for granted. Right. But there are a lot of areas where, you know, they’re sharing or they just don’t have a new bed and this is an opportunity for them to receive it and it’s a great program.

Brittany: 43:11
Yeah, it sounds incredible. I couldn’t be more thrilled about that. I love learning about the organization where our challenge blankets go to, and I think it’s important for people to hear that, too. That’s one of the things I love about having the podcast this year. We didn’t have this in time for the challenge last year. It just gives people the opportunity to hear the emotion and the thought that goes behind all of this stuff. I really hope that it motivates people to take the time, to find the time and the yarn to join in with this challenge because it’s obviously going for a really, really great cause.

Mary: 43:52
And they have to imagine some young person with that nice, warm Afghan, you know, in their… whether it’s their bed or their chair. And I think it’ll be, I know it’ll be much appreciated because the folks at the university have shared with us how important this has been. It’s just, again, as I said earlier, it completes that circle. You know, it’s just a little bit of added warmth. And that’s what it’s all about.

Brittany: 44:25
Yeah. Well, man, I could not have come up with a more perfect way to end. I just want to thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to be on the show, to talk about Warm Up America, to get people excited about how they can get involved and in the challenge too. I just want to take a couple more minutes. If there are any other resources or ways that people can potentially connect with you or some of your team members this would be a good opportunity to kind of slide those in and we’ll also include everything in the show notes as well so people don’t have to memorize any links or web pages. I’ll have all that organized for you but are there any other things that maybe we left out?

Mary: 45:13
Well, we did cover a lot of ground and, you know, I know I mentioned how this could appeal to all ages and if there are teachers or educators or Girl Scout leaders or 4-H leaders listening, it is a wonderful community-based program for young people to get involved in. Now, I don’t think every five-year-old can do it, but we have found that from about eight or nine years and up, children can usually struggle through and master this motor coordination and having them and working with them to select a charity and each child creating some sort of section and then joining it together and donating in their own community is a wonderful experience for them. And we’ve been working with Jenny Bassinet at Craft Yarn Council about a new program called Club Stitch. And we’re going to have lots of educational materials for teachers to download if they might be interested in starting a group at their school or club or after-school program.

Brittany: 46:46
Oh, that sounds like a wonderful idea. So when that is available, let me know. I want to include that in the show notes as well. And if you’re listening and you kind of feel like you’re in that situation where this would be a good way for you to get involved, just know that this feature is coming soon. If somebody wants to get in contact maybe before that’s done, is there an opportunity to do that if they have a pressing deadline or some kind of activity that they need to get scheduled? Can they email somebody?

Mary: 47:19
You know, if it’s all right with you, I’m going to check with Jenny and just find out what the best– I’m sure they could contact me. But let me just see what the best contact information will be about that.

Brittany: 47:39
Okay. Sounds

Mary: 47:40
Good. If that’s okay. Show notes.

Brittany: 47:42
We’ll be in touch too. And depending on when I get that, I can even include that here in the closer of the podcast episodes. My, my people know the interviews are recorded ahead of time and then everything is kind of stitched together afterwards. So I will have that information for you guys either now, right now, or on the show notes, you can check it out there.

Mary: 48:04
Okay, thank you.

Brittany: 48:06
Well, thank you so much, Mary. It’s been such a pleasure chatting with you today. Oh,

Mary: 48:10
It’s good to talk to you. And again, many thanks to your listeners. And we’ll look forward to this challenge.

Brittany: 48:20
Well, there you have it. Mary, thanks again for coming on the show, for sharing everything about Warm Up America. I know it’s going to give people the chance to feel like they can really connect to this organization in preparation for the Crochet Challenge for Warm Up America 2018 that’s kicking off later this month. Guys, if I could just ask one favor of you, it would be that you… participate in this challenge. I know that I’m asking so much of you because we’re going to make an entire afghan — it’s a smaller afghan but that’s a significant time investment, there’s yarn that needs to be purchased for that — and I know what I’m asking, but I would be so grateful if you were able to participate in this challenge, to take that leap with hundreds of other yarn heroes and make the afghan, send it to Warm Up America, and brighten a child’s life with your time and with this beautiful afghan that you create as a result of this challenge. I will get into all of the nitty gritty details on next week’s episode of the podcast.

We’re going to talk about the design a little bit, the challenge, what it is exactly, what you need to do. We’ll talk a little bit about your supplies. I want to cover everything that you need to know so you know exactly what you’re getting into before you make that commitment.

So stay tuned next Thursday for that episode on the BHooked podcast. And I just want to say a heartfelt thank you so much for joining me today, for listening to Mary’s message, for joining in next week. And the last little request I have for you this week is that if you haven’t done so already, you head over to iTunes and leave an honest rating and or a review for the show. That really helps people to discover it in iTunes. If you found any value in it whatsoever, you can just share that with other people so that they might also find the same value in it that you have. You can do that really easy by going to BHookedCrochet.com/iTunes. You can leave your rating there, your star rating. Thank you guys. Have a wonderful week. I’ll see you next time. Bye-bye.