Guideposts Sweater Project

To date, the Guideposts Sweater Project has collected over 200,000 children's sweaters! Each one hand-knit (or crocheted) by wonderful volunteers who donate their skills, time, materials and the postage to get them to Guideposts. Many sweaters are sent by Americans and Canadians, but some come from as far away as Australia and even New Guinea.

The Sweater Project began in 1996 when a Guideposts Books editor saw a picture in the New York Times of a boy in a refugee camp wearing a hand-knitted sweater that had been given to him by a member of the British charity, OXFAM. Recalling the sweaters she had knitted for OXFAM as a child, she felt such a connection, that she was compelled to write a column about her experience in Guideposts. After the column ran, Guideposts readers responded in droves - asking for patterns, sending in sweaters, or donating yarn and funds if they couldn't knit themselves.

Seven years later, Guideposts still receives a steady stream of sweaters - nearly 4,000 per month! When the packages arrive at our Carmel office, the sweaters are counted and repacked into larger boxes, which are then sent all over the world. Romania, Turkey and Kosovo are some of the latest destinations that the sweaters have been shipped. The joy that this project has created for the children who receive our sweaters is immeasurable, as is the joy of the people who knit them.

(excerpt from Daily Guideposts web site)