This is the day I've been waiting for and what I tea$ed you about a few weeks ago. I'm soooo excited about this.
I get to announce the new
Red Scarf Fund For Foster Youth.
When I went to Washington, it was largely for the purpose of pitching the idea of a knitbloggers' scholarship to my friends at the OFA. I explained to them that if there is one thing we knitters and knitbloggers and crocheters can do and do well, it's to rally around a good cause. And, of course, most importantly for a scholarship/fund type of deal: Raise Money!
We've been working on this thing together, and Doug Sprei, Director of Communications and Marketing at the OFA, got the Paypal donation site set up this week. He wrote a nice entry about our meeting in Washington in the OFA blog here. (I lifted his photo, but I don't think he'll mind.)
So the Paypal button was up and running as of August 1st. I made a
donation as quickly as I could after learning that the site was
operational, but Doug tells me that a woman from California beat me to
it as soon as he put up the button the other night (and before I even
knew about it).
In our meeting, we discussed having the money the knitbloggers raise
be earmarked for some special purpose -- for a special group of
recipients (i.e., art majors), or a special need (i.e., the
Emergency Fund, which can make or break a person's resolve to stay in
college.) The idea that was most on my mind was to develop a
fund for people who have to leave campus for school holidays but have
no place to go. In the end, however, we all decided that the best use
of the money we raise is to not earmark it for any one purpose, but to
put it in the general fund so it can be used for whatever is most
needed at any given time.
So what do you say? Shall we dance? Go ahead, click! Let's just knock their socks off!
I would love to show them what I can do with a little help from my friends.
Mary Beth Temple has offered to sweeten the pot a little bit. 
How about you make a donation, and then tell me about it in an email to
norma[dot]knits[at]gmail[dot]com with the subject line Red Scarf Fund,
and I'll put your name in a drawing for a copy of Mary Beth Temple's
fun new book, The Secret Language of Knitters. Sound good? Thank you, Mary Beth, for the FABULOUS prize donation! How exciting is that?
