Do you remember what is was like in college? Maybe you were flat broke, scraping enough money for a splurge like a pizza or to put gas in the car. Maybe you worked your way through college, taking a night job and trying not to fall asleep in the middle of class. Did you ever get a care package from home? Do you remember how awesome it was to open that package with your favorite cookies, or maybe a little present from home? Maybe you couldn’t afford to go to college and instead had to work at a job hoping to work your way up like your parents were able to, but fearing that in a changing economy it wouldn’t be as easy. Maybe going to college would have made all the difference to you.
Now imagine that until your 18th birthday you were in foster care. And that whole time you looked for a place to call home. Someone to call family. But it never happened and you “aged out” of the system. Would you really be ready to step out on your own without any support? It’s not easy to face the world at 18, even with a loving family to catch you when you fall, let alone when you have no one. That’s where Foster Care to Success steps in. In 1981 they’ve been working with young adults who’ve aged out of the foster care system to provide them with food, housing, and transportation.
One thing that Foster Care to Success does every year is the Red Scarf Project. They collect handmade scarves to give out to college students on Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day is a hard day for many people, but I bet that opening up handmade present, maybe with a little note, on Valentine’s Day would be incredibly special, particularly if you didn’t have a traditional family to send you a little care package.
In 2010, Juniper Moon Farm did a giveaway to support the RSP. We received many beautiful scarves and sold out of all the yarn that we dyed extremely quickly. Here’s a smattering of the scarves that we received:
Do they make your heart swell three sizes? Because it certainly does mine! This year, for a brief few moments I imagined myself dyeing a couple hundred hanks of yarn to put up in the shop. And then I realized just how crazy that was. November is going to be a very busy month and I somehow I feel like I’ve misplaced October! So this is what Susan and I came up with instead.
There are a number of our national (and now international! Thanks, Canada!) yarn lines that come in red. If you make a scarf for the Red Scarf Project, we will give you, dear reader, a discount on anything in the shop – shares included. What will the discount be? Well, in honor of Valentine’s day, it will be 14%.
Here’s how it works.
Read the important info about what Foster Care to Success is looking for (RED scarves, 60″ long between 5-8″ wide. Handmade – knitted, crocheted, woven. Unisex. Feel free to include a card with some encouragement, washing instructions and love. Maybe even a small gift card.)
Choose some JMF yarn in a red color for your scarf:
Pick a fantastic scarf pattern, either one of JMF’s or from somewhere else. Make your scarf and mail it to Foster Care to Success to be received by December 15th. I know, holiday knitting is just getting started, but you can probably take a scarf project’s worth of time out, right?
Foster Care to Success, Red Scarf Project
21351 Gentry Drive Suite 130
Sterling, VA 20166
SUPER IMPORTANT FINAL STEP: In order for us to know that you knit a scarf, before December 15th, you must create a Ravelry project page and have a completed picture with the tag it with 13redjmf. As scarves are completed, they will show up on that page. I will message everyone that completed the discount code for 14% off everything in the shop! (If you don’t “do” Ravelry, you can email me instead.) (If you need a refresher on how to tag, you can find the Ravelry Wiki here.)
Tomorrow I’ll share scarves in Yarned by You for inspiration!
And a final note, if you have a JMF farm yarn in red, that absolutely qualifies for the Red Scarf Project coupon as well!
