| K4P Board Member, Kathy, at the Women Empowering Women event in Denver. |
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Hiya! I hope May has been a lovely month full of warm days, healthy habits, and lots of making dark skin toned Peace Pals!!!! This month we are proud to release our 2024 Annual Report. We work hard to collect as much delivery data as we possibly can from Pods around the country.
If you find that we have left out your Peace Pod, or your delivery state, PLEASE let us know! We know that so many of you are making local deliveries, and we want to sing your praises!
We are proud that 78% of each dollar donated goes directly to programming. The administrative costs are staff salaries and storage unit rental, both of which are absolutely necessary! When you donate to K4P, you are making a huge difference for a small nonprofit.
One other thing to note is that we donated over 18,000 items but only received a little over 10,000 items through HQ. This is partly because so many makers in our community donate locally, which we encourage. However, it is also because we are simply being asked for more items than are being sent to Denver HQ. This does leave us low on inventory at times and we hate not being able to fulfill a request. So please, let this be the sign you needed to create some amazing items for K4P!
Thank you all for your support in 2024. We made the world a little brighter because you gave of your time, your resources, and your kindness. Thank you- Kelly |
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K4P staff member, Jo, and volunteer, Linda (wo)man the booth at Denver's Volunteer Expo |
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Community Member of the Month:
Busy Hands Peace Pod, Presbyterian Church of Bella Vista, Arkansas |
The Busy Hands Peace Pod in Bella Vista, Arkansas was originally founded over 12 years ago by Sharyl R, who was soon joined by Ruth C. This consistent group of 8-10 makers meet every Friday and really look forward to their time together. The members of the group are close and have supported each other through difficult times. Like many of our K4P Peace Pods, they have found it challenging to attract new members, and have also lost members who sometimes struggle with health issues or move away from their small town to be closer to families. However, they are holding on and doing their best to keep the Peace Pod moving forward.
Group members enjoy making a wide variety of items, including hats, scarves, mittens, and baby blankets, regularly sending donations to Knitting4Peace. The increasing cost of postage has led the group to seek out those in their own community who are also in need of assistance. They have recently found joy in making and donating lap robes locally, always being sure to report these donations to Knitting4Peace.
When asked, Ruth kindly shared a few “Words of Wisdom” to pass along to other Knitting4Peace makers: “It’s important to remember that it’s not about perfectionism! You want your handmade items to be nice and good, but please don’t stress that your work is not good enough. Enjoy what you are doing and remember that you won’t learn how to knit overnight! It takes practice and part of the fun is learning from each other, helping and sharing with others.”
Many thanks to Ruth and all of the members of the Busy Hands Peace Pod for all you do and for being our Knitting4Peace Community Members of the Month! |
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Busy Hands uses a clever paper to report their items to us. We are so grateful to them for taking the time to send us this information. You can do the same OR use our local delivery form HERE. |
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Consistency is Key: Unusual Items Do you ever wonder why we focus on Consistency in each newsletter?
Our Knitting4Peace Community Partners typically are small non-profits or schools who are running on shoestring budgets. They often rely on a small staff and/or volunteers to distribute all the beautifully made items they receive from Knitting4Peace. They, like K4P, typically have very limited storage space. It makes it easier for our Community Partners when K4P responds to their requests for specific items in standard sizes (hats, scarves, mittens, blankets, Peace Pals, finger puppets) so they then can distribute them quickly to those who are most in need.
It can be challenging to sort, store, and distribute unusual items, like toys, bags, sweaters, fashion scarves, no matter how wonderful those items might be. We ask that you kindly review our guidelines and check in with us before sending in items that are not listed on our K4P website. |
| Limited storage at the K4P office |
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Youth Scarves & Baby Blankets |
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Above Photo: Lorraine S. & her beautiful blankets! |
We are anticipating a shortage of youth scarves this fall and are worried we may not be able to meet the many requests we receive from schools and programs serving children. Youth scarves should be warm, and a minimum of 4”- 6” wide and 45”-55” long. We currently have plenty of adult-sized scarves.
We are receiving more and more requests for baby blankets. The most requested size is small blankets, between 26”-30” in width/length. Baby blankets that are a bit larger (up to 36”) are also needed. |
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Please note: Our donation intake is run solely by volunteers. Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to immediately acknowledge each package as it arrives. Remember, you can always track your package with your carrier.
Remember, mailing costs qualify as tax-deductible nonprofit donations. Keep your receipts! Due to a lack of storage, K4P cannot accept yarn donations unless they are new and still in the original wrapper.
Thank you for understanding. |
| Mail or bring items to: 2600 N. Leyden St., Denver, CO 80207 Drop-Off hours: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 9am-12pm The church is no longer staffed by an assistant so please be sure to go during the timeframe mentioned above.
Ring the doorbell and you will be let into the church to drop off your items. EACH mailed box or dropped-off bag must include a note with the DATE, NAME, MAILING ADDRESS, E-MAIL, AND PEACE POD.
Did you make a local delivery? Fill out the form to let us know and send some pics! Just click the button below |
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Special thanks to Park Hill Congregational Church for their continued support and allowing us to share their space in Denver. |
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HAVE A QUESTION ON HOW TO MAKE SOMETHING? ASK ARNA! |
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Are you ready to support the mission of Knitting4Peace? Donate using the button below! |
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Contact Arna@knitting4peace.org with questions about patterns and guidelines. Check out our social media posts for the latest news (links below). If you have questions about deliveries or donations please email info@knitting4peace.org. ALL donations sustain our work. Donate online or mail checks to:
2600 Leyden Street, Denver, CO 80207
Donations to Knitting4Peace are tax-deductible. |
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