Knitted with love

Kirsten Wilson is just 9 years old, but she knows that everybody deserves a warm hat, cozy pair of gloves and a thick scarf during winter in Ohio.

She also knows that not everybody has those things.

It’s sad, Kirsten said. But you can give them to people who don't have them, and that makes her happy.

Kirsten and a half-dozen other Columbus Girl Scouts of Ohio's Heartland Troop No. 482 from Ecole Kenwood French Immersion School on the Northwest Side — along with their moms — gave away dozens of knitted gloves, hats, afghans and scarves donated from all across America to people in need at the Clintonville-Beechwold Community Resource Center.

The event was sponsored by theDallas-based nonprofit group Warm Up America! The group disperses thousands of handmade winter clothes nationwide through its "Made With Love" events with the help of volunteers such as Kirsten's mom, Cassie Lewis.

Lewis started knitting items for the nonprofit groups about four years ago, but this was the first year in which she was asked to hold a Made With Love event in Columbus.

The time couldn't be better, advocates say.

The number of homeless in Franklin County jumped 6.4 percent in 2018 to an estimated 1,807 people. And despite declines in unemployment, the percentage of people in the county living in poverty was still a hefty 15.9 percent, according to 2017 census estimates.

Simple things such as hats and gloves aren't always available to everyone, a lesson that troop leader Stephanie Collins hoped to teach her girls.

But there are ways to get those items to people in need, said Katie Palmer, development director of the Clintonville-Beechwold center.

People "come in here 'cause they need food, but then we can help them more," she told the girls as they entered the center's food pantry.

In between picking out their favorite colored scarves and fawning over tiny hats for newborns, the girls got to watch and help people choose their new garments.

One mother came in with her toddler and young son for food, and they each left with a hat. Red and blue for her elder son. Lime green for her younger. A red one for herself.

Lewis received about 600 hats, gloves and scarves from Warm Up America! to give out in Columbus, and she estimated that about 50 were given away at an event at the Mid-Ohio Foodbank on Wednesday and at the resource center Thursday. The remaining items will be available at the center's food pantry.

They’re available for people like David, a man who stopped by the pantry Thursday. He had a hat but was in desperate need of a replacement. His black beanie took a beating in the rain on New Year’s Eve, he said. It also had a big hole in the back.

He picked out a beige hat and smiled.

"This right here is a nice one," he said. "I'll be wearing it soon."

scartwright@dispatch.com

@sumsumc13

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