Warm Up America

[gmmarton]

As mentioned before, the folks I've made contact with from Warm Up America really encouraged my group to work up enough squares that we then wove together into a blanket that was eventually donated to a local agency. I wouldn't go the route of dropping anything off at the local Michaels craft store. Better to find some deserving individuals in your own community.

[Shandeh]

Maybe some of us should go to Michaels and offer to seam the squares.

[weezie]

That's exactly what I was thinking Sandy! We have a new Michaels opening soon in my area, first one ever around here, and I will contact the store manager and see what their policy is on the WUA squares, or if they have a policy on it. I had never heard you could drop them off at a Michaels, so will definite check this out and offer to help seam them for local charities.

I think that was what Warm Up America's initial intent was... to get knitters involved in helping everyone in America by knitting warm blankets, and it sort of grew into this huge project which became too big for one person or one small group to collect all squares, seam them, and then send them around the country, so they eventually asked people to take it upon themselves to keep WUA going on a local level... and it saves on postage too!

I'm not totally sure about this, but think I read it somewhere (maybe on their website?)... I'm sure there would be something about it somewhere. In any case, all of us have local shelters and other places that could use a nice warm afghan, so don't let the actions of a few keep you from knitting for those who need it!

[Mombombie]

Sorry you had a bad experience at Michaels. I just started teaching at one. We have asked for squares, but it takes a long time to put them together. We are in the process of doing that so we can donate all the squares made into afghans. So please don't think bad of all Michaels stores, It is the people that might have done the wrong thing.

[DogCatMom]

Another way to donate rectangles for Warm Up America is to take them to a Stitches Expo. I've volunteered at Stitches West, and this year the booth I volunteered at (Haloes of Hope) was very close to the Warm Up America booth.

There are four Stitches Expos throughout the year in different parts of the U.S.: Atlanta, Chicago, New England (can't remember which city; sorry), and Santa Clara, CA.

Make the rectangles, gather them from friends, place them in a bag (bags?), and donate them at Stitches.

WUA does recommend finding a local agency to work with so that money isn't spent shipping squares all over the country when there is local need. This was the founder's own wish; it's not a scam or anything like that. Sadly, Ms. Evie Cohen Rosen passed away in November 2012; there's a write-up of her wonderful work in Knitter's Magazine, #110, still on the magazine racks at JoAnn's and Barnes & Noble as of two days ago.