So here I am, enjoying my coffee and working on my Facebook page when Erin informs me that I have to go write something - like now! She is up to something but goodness (or evil) only knows what... so here ya go, Erin... because you said so!
I have been remiss in my writing because of many reasons - married, family, Hats For Heroes... wait, what's that? You don't know what Hats For Heroes is?!? Oh my, well let me remedy that for immediately. And so the story begins...
I worked many years for Disney - the world leader in a fast paced entertainment industry. When I retired to take on my next role as a stay at home mom, I looked for things to do to stay busy. The only problem was, I didn't know what I wanted to do.
I searched the internet for ideas and everything that came up was some "start up" business scam or other items that just did not appeal to me.
I sat down one day during naptime and thought about what it was that I really enjoyed about my former career and what I really enjoy about staying home. I came up with two answers - being a VoluntEar that made magical moments for people from all over all the world and having more time to work on my knitting (time with my family was a given). All I had to do was figure out how to put the two together.
I searched the internet again with a more exact idea of what I was looking for and I was able to find a better idea of what I wanted to do. I learned that I wanted to combine my love of knitting with my love volunteering - and there was the beginning stitch of Hats For Heroes.
I have family and friends from all over who are connected with our Armed Forces. Jacque's son, Brandon, is in the Army. Tracie's husband, Dan, is in the Air Force. April's husband, Scooter, is in the Coast Guard. Our son, Matthew, is waiting to be accepted into the Navy upon graduation this year. Both of my grandfathers were in the military... and the list could go on and on. These thoughts were knitting together in my head until I had come to the conclusion that I was going to make knitted items for soldiers.
I found the military guidelines and a distributor who had all the necessary contacts to get my items to the soldiers. How wonderful! The first month I finished one hat. The second month I finshed two hats. You can see how this is going - there is no way I can cover all the soldiers on my own!! I definately needed help and I was not afraid to ask for it.
Hats For Heroes came to life in late December 2008, early January 2009. I created a "cause" on the social networking site, Facebook. The first month I had 3 members, then one day I woke up and had 9 members and in the months to follow we grew to over 200 members! My sweet (and very technologically savvy) husband had been thinking that if we reached a specific number of members, he would create a website for us. I'm guessing we reached it because here we are - http://www.hats4heroes.org !
This is a non-profit organization made up of every day men and women who just want to show our troops how much we love and appreciate all that they do for us. Whether you have a loved one in the military or not, without the hard work and dedication of our soldiers we would be nothing.
So please, join the cause. You don't have to know how to knit/crochet/sew in order to be a member of this group. We need help with shipping costs, packing boxes or anything else you can imagine. If you would like to learn how to knit/crochet/sew, we can teach you that too. The more the merrier!
