Happy Monday, dear T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! Recently, we were asked a great question: Do the underprivileged veterans appreciate the handcrafted nature of the gifts that they receive on their road to recovery and does it matter to them? Simply put, they very much do and it really does matter to these wonderful individuals. The smiles, laughs, and joy that we have experienced from them first-hand at local Stand Down events are a testament to that! From the big reactions on their faces when they realize that these gifts are all handcrafted, to the excitement of getting to choose what style, color, and type of garment that they wished to take with them, we can tell you with certainty that they appreciate the effort and love that is put into every handcrafted hat, scarf, mitten, etc. from T.H.R.I.V.E. and you, all of our dedicated donors! We’ve even had veterans who said that they felt unworthy of such dear gifts. Rest assured that we insisted that they most definitely deserved them and more! Most touchingly, we’ve had many veterans reminisce with us memories of family and friends who had made garments for them. They’ve told us about favorite hats made by their grandmothers, memorable scarves received from Christmases past, and treasured garments given from friends. Most recently, we had a veteran tell us about how his mother would knit him sweaters that he greatly cherished, but that he didn’t ever learn to knit himself. Victoria, our Chief Executive Officer of T.H.R.I.V.E., replied, “I can knit for you now.” Let us all be there for them and happy crafting everyone!

Happy Monday, dear T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! We had a wonderful time at DFW Fiber Fest over the weekend and enjoyed meeting everyone who came by our booth. We’d like to thank all of the Fiber Fest staff for allowing us to share our mission to benefit our underprivileged military veterans and their dependents with our crafting communities! We saw many new faces and heartily welcome those who wish to join us in our cause! With that in mind, the Dallas Stand Down is being held on October 17, followed very quickly by one held in Abilene, TX. Both events are estimated to have large turnouts of underprivileged veterans and their dependents and they are in great need of hats, scarves, mittens, gaiters, and lap blankets.

If you would like to donate a hat, scarf, lap blanket, or other handcrafted garment to our cause, please remember that the dear veterans and their dependents prefer dark colors (e.g. blue, black, green, grey, and all-time favorite, camouflage). If you would like to knit, crochet, or sew a garment in a brighter color, red or deep purple are always popular bright colors. We cannot emphasize this important point enough: please do not use sparkly or overly decorative yarns and fabrics. While they have their place, they are simply inappropriate for the veterans and their dependents (including children because of choking hazards).

If you are not a crafter, but would like to help, there are still many ways to support our cause! Please consider donating materials and/or making a monetary donation to help us cover the costs of materials, shipping, and overhead.

If you have donations and are in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we are still continuing our policy of curbside pickup. Please contact us to schedule a pickup. If you reside outside the DFW area and would like to make an in-kind donation, you can ship your donations to us here in Dallas. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. Remember, even one lovingly handcrafted hat or scarf can make a huge difference in the life of an underprivileged veteran or their dependent(s)!

Happy Monday, dear T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! DFW Fiber Fest 2024 is going down this Friday through Sunday (September 20-22) at the Irving Convention Center in Las Colinas. Don’t miss it! For those unfamiliar, the event is THE place to meet fellow crafters and enthusiasts, learn valuable crafting skills, shop unique materials and tools, and also meet with local vendors and non-profits, such as T.H.R.I.V.E. Association! Like last year, we’ll have a booth set up to share our mission of benefiting our underprivileged military veterans and their dependents with our local crafting community! Stop on by; we’d love to see you there!