How You Can Perfect Your Knitting Skills and Bring Joy to Homeless Children

With Cubs for Kids, you can outfit adorable teddy bears in sweet knitted creations—thus bringing a smile to the face of a homeless child

Let’s say you’re a new knitter who would love to create for charitable purposes. Perhaps you’ve considered knitting squares; maybe you’ve already done so. But now, you’re bored with them.

Simultaneously (and, perhaps, contrarily), you would love to knit actual clothing but you’re far too intimidated to do so.

What if I told you that there’s a way you could knit clothing on a tiny scale and use that tiny clothing to bring a smile to the face of a child in a difficult circumstance? Would you jump at the chance?

If so, start jumping—and let me introduce you to Cubs for Kids!

Twin Loves Lead to a Cuddly Idea

In 1998, Arlene Comora started Cubs for Kids began as a way to marry two distinct loves: children and knitting. After volunteering for a charitable organization and finding the politics involved unsettling, she wanted to work out a way to help people without the politics involved.

Her first project began when she found a nearby homeless shelter. She knitted 125 sweaters for bears. She then ordered bears to dress in sweaters, gift wrapped them, and took them to the shelter.

What I find truly remarkable about the growth of Cubs for Kids is that Arlene didn’t use the Internet to find knitters to join her! Instead, she did it the old-fashioned way: through word of mouth at various knitting events, wool and sheep festivals, and other such common places where knitters gather.

With many other knitters helping out, Cubs for Kids now asks volunteers to create hats, scarves, and cardigans for the bears.

Cubs for Kids offers the patterns; all a knitter needs to do is gather his/her leftover yarn and create the adorable acts of love!

Bear outfits are collected all year long, and in December, the bears are dressed and wrapped. Then they are delivered to homeless shelters to the delight of children all across the United States!

How You Can Help

Jumping in is simple! Just head over to the Cubs for Kids website. Then jump into their Patterns page.

You’ll find a nice assortment of both hat and sweater patterns; you’ll even find a set of patterns to machine-knit sweaters and scarves!

Once you’ve finished your tiny mission, you can send the clothing to the address on this page. On this page, you’ll also find a phone number and email address, just in case you have questions that need answers.

This is such a fantastic way to enjoy the thrill of creating clothing and bring smiles to children’s faces. Better still, it’s an outstanding way to use leftover yarn for the greatest of causes!