Despite the global pandemic we managed to continue fundraising every Wednesday throughout 2020 and donating 5% of our sales to nonprofits doing essential work in our community. We had grand hopes for 2020 and kicked things off with a large scale fundraising event with Knit Beyond Borders for those affected by the Australian wildfires. (Why yes, those happened in 2020 which seems like a full decade ago.)
In December of 2020, Mariame Kaba, activist and organizer announced the #Warm4Holidays challenge which Virginia immediately cast on a hat for. And then proceeded to knit four more. One of the organizations accepting handcrafted warm accessories was the Material Aid and Advocacy Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We noted that they also take monetary donations and it seemed fitting that we would kick off 2021 fundraising for their organization. We also checked out their #MaterialDifference wishlist and saw that they were in need of face masks. So in addition to 5% of our Wednesday sales we will also be donating 1,000 face masks through our continued collaboration with the Boston Area Mask Initiative. UPDATE: We donated $500 to MAAP! Thank you for shopping on Wednesdays!
If you would like to donate a handcrafted warm accessory please feel free to drop it into the red dropbox at the front door Sunday through Friday throughout the month of January. Check out the Material Aid and Advocacy Program's wishlist for more ways to help.
*Since launching the We Care Wednesday initiative in January 2017 we have donated over $44,500 to a variety of nonprofits doing essential work in our community as well as other places. From the Mayor's Disaster Fund to Girls Rock Boston to Movement Voter Project and Found In Translation. We select organizations that we feel represent not only our commitment to a better, more equitable world but also our desire to "do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can."