March 2007

GW Gives the Gift of Warmth with Red Scarf Project

By Zak M. Salih

This Valentine’s Day college-age orphans and former foster care youth received hundreds of red scarves handknit by GW students, faculty, parents, and staff through the 2007 Red Scarf Project.

The project is part of a nationwide program spearheaded by the Orphan Foundation of America to send care packages to parentless youth. The scarves raised through the Red Scarf Project were sent in Valentine’s Day packages intended to provide warmth and comfort during the cold months of winter.

GW participated in the Red Scarf Project for the first time this winter, ultimately donating 385 scarves— far surpassing its goal of 250. The University’s effort was coordinated by the Office of Community Service and Student and Academic Support Services’ (SASS) Communication and Creative Services office.
Deborah Snelgrove, B.A. ’85, SASS chief creative officer and senior executive director of communication and creative services, first learned of the national project through a knitting blog.

An experienced knitter, she quickly mobilized a group of student and staff volunteers to make scarves and solicit donations from other knitters in the GW community.

“There is no better community to knit scarves for college students than other college students,” she says. Snelgrove, Presidential Administrative Fellow
Carrie Warick, senior Lauren Moreno, and Sara Horn, coordinator of student involvement for the Student Activities Center, spent weeks knitting red scarves
in all manner of designs and patterns. The hand-crafted creations quickly piled up
in the conference room of the SASS Communications and Creative Services office where they, along with donated scarves, were affixed with a GW Red Scarf Project tag designed by Alina Bravo.

According to Snelgrove, the scarves came from all University communities
and generations, including students, their parents, and even their grandparents.
By the Jan. 31 deadline, her office was piled high with scarves from 133 knitters
and crocheters.

“The most dramatic response has been from parents,” she says. “We’ve surpassed our goal of 250 because the Office of Parent Services put us in touch with parents through its listserv.”

What makes a project like this so rewarding, according to Moreno, is the social nature of knitting. “You can sit and talk and knit,” she says. “Knitting is motivational and can be done practically anywhere.”

Many volunteers created two scarves and some knitted as many as 10; one parent sent in 26 scarves. Those who couldn’t knit donated yarn; in all, more than a dozen skeins of red yarn were given to volunteer knitters. Some parents attached cards to their donations as well, offering warm thoughts for the eventual recipient.

“The idea was that they’d be receiving something homemade,” says Warick. According to her, knitting a scarf can take as little as a few hours or as much as a few months, depending on the intricacy of a pattern.

Next year, the project plans to mobilize earlier, tap into the alumni community, and even offer knitting lessons for volunteers.

Thanks to the efforts of GW community members, hundreds of orphaned or
former foster care college students can bundle up for the rest of winter.

“It just reinforces what a special place GW is,” says Snelgrove. “Our community is extraordinary.”

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu