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Emily’s Hats for Hope Initiative

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Emily’s Hats for Hope Initiative

In December 2011, Emily, 17, realized she could help the homeless & working poor in her community by knitting warm winter hats for them. On December 27, 2011 Emily’s Hats For Hope Initiative was born. Since then Emily has been making a difference in the world, one hat at a time.

She has donated warm winter items to several NJ based outreach organizations, including soup kitchens in Morristown & Dover, the Father English Community Center in Paterson, the InterFaith Food Pantry in Morris Plains, & Trinity Church in Asbury Park. Hats were brought to Elmira, NY, and to the Second Congregational Church in Jeffersonville, Vermont. 1,100 hats were sent to the Jersey Shore for people drastically affected by Superstorm Sandy. We were asked by the organization “From Houses To Homes-Guatemala” to supply hats to women and children in Guatemala. We delivered hats, scarves, afghans, canned food, toiletries, etc to the residents of “Tent City” in Lakewood, NJ. These men and women lost their homes, cars, and jobs and are now living in the woods in Lakewood, NJ. We also donated hats to the Jersey Battered Women’s Shelter.

A number of members of Emily’s Facebook group have created independent “spin-offs” of Emily’s Hats For Hope Initiative in their home states of (2 in CA), FL, IA, IL, IN, KY, ME, MI, MO, NC, NE, NH, (2 in NJ), OK, PA, TN, (2 in VA) , WA and in Ontario, Canada and Denmark. We are in the process of starting a spin-off in Tijuana, Mexico, London, England and Australia along with several other states in the US. We also have independent spin-offs in Atlantic County & Ocean County, NJ for people to donate warm winter items for Hurricane Sandy relief. Emily’s long- term goal is to have a spin-off in every state & on every continent.

Emily started this Facebook group, which now has over 2,000 members. Many have sent hats, scarves, afghans & yarn to us as donations. She has received winter hats from as far away as Canada, Iceland, & England. It is phenomenal how much support her initiative has received from around the world!

Emily has received letters of recognition from NJ Assemblyman Anthony M. Bucco, NJ Governor Chris Christie and Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen. She was interviewed by NBC in NYC on the Evening Nightly News With Chuck Scarborough in July 2012 and has been interviewed by The Daily Record, The Morris Newsbee, and Morristown Patch (NJ newspapers).

Please join Emily as she continues towards her goal of 5,000 winter hats by her high school graduation in June 2013.

You can send winter hats, scarves, gloves, mittens, blankets, afghans to:

Emily’s Hats For Hope Initiative
PO Box 2374
Morristown, NJ 07962-2374
Website: https://emilyshatsforhopeinitiative.org/

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