Krochet kids: knitting the fabric for the society

Quick question: “When you buy a winter hat, where does your money go?”

Hold on to that thought and feast on the countless possibilities while you read on.

Winter is coming.

You can just tell by breathing in the morning air. And I guess I am lucky enough to be able to say that, living in St. John’s, Newfoundland, by far one of the cleanest cities in Canada.

Along with winter comes the obvious shift in fashion. Out with the shorts and in with the jackets. The bandanas make way for scarves and toques.

Read More

Speaking of which…

I reached into my closet and pulled out my hat bin. You see, I’m a cap/hat/toque lover. (For those of you who think I’m talking gibberish when I keep saying the word ‘toque’, a toque is the Canadian equivalent of a knit winter hat. A beanie if you may.)

As I pulled out the storied heroes of past winters gone, I was pulled back into an organization I read about that manufactured my winter weapon of choice.

Except that what they did was on a scale far more socially conscious than my American Eagle and Bootlegger branded products currently muster up.

Kool Kids Krochet

Kohl Crecelius was no ordinary high school kid. He could crochet, and an adept crochet advocate he was too. Him and his buddies Travis and Stewart were driven with creativity and individualism. If they could crochet, they could knit their very own unique ‘designer’ head wear for the mountains (they were all avid snow sports enthusiasts).

The lads got so good, the local newspaper in their native Spokane, WA dubbed them the “Krochet Kids”. Little did they know that in the future they would be using their art to actively change the lives of others.

Stewart returned home one day after a summer spent in Uganda, and divulged grating news of people in government camps that have known nothing but poverty. And since entire generations grew up only knowing the camps they grew in, they were born into the vicious poverty cycle.

It was then that the three Krocheteers realized that the simple act of crocheting could be used to improve the quality of life for these people by giving them access to a means to produce amazing products which in turn could be sold to generate revenue. In lay man’s terms: make a living to climb out of the poverty hole.

This simple idea of empowering impoverished people to rise above poverty, with the vision of creating a sustainable economic development program to support this holistic growth of communities gave rise to what is known today as Krochet Kids international.

Buy a Hat. Change a Life

Krochet Kids has essentially three crucial values by which it operates by. These are (in no particular order of importance):

• People: freedom for people to grow and enrich their lives

• Product: belief in the quality of work, not only as a bringer of style and comfort but also as a facilitator for social change

• Love: the belief that the actions of all those working in the name of Krochet Kids stems out of the love for bringing lasting and powerful change.

Krochet Kids empowers women in the African nation of Uganda by giving them the tools to crochet winter knitted hats that are sold in North America and worldwide through e-commerce. Headquartered in Costa Mesa, California with an on-site compound in Northern Uganda, the awesome staff at Krochet Kids are pioneering an ingenious movement to make humanitarian aid completely and definitively obsolete.

Tall order? Perhaps. But you won’t know the answer to that question until you start trying.

Kohl and his team taught the women in Northern Uganda how to crotchet and in no time these women became very adept at producing fine works of knitted art. Krochet Kids hopes that this knowledge can be used to lift these impoverished women out of poverty and into self sustainability.

Krochet: Job + Capacity Training

Another fascinating thing about their program is that they provide mentorship to help each lady plan a unique and sustainable career path for the future.

Read More-transportation business name