Charity Knitting Campaign Sees No Cap in Donations

“At first, I was just interested but I now find it rewarding. Sometimes, I even knit overnight. After watching me knit caps, many male colleagues have begun knitting.”

Jeon Woo-jeong, a worker at GS Homeshopping, is nicknamed “knitting man.” After discovering that his company supports the “Knit One, Save One” campaign hosted by the civic group Save the Children, he grew interested in knitting.

When he began taking part in the campaign in 2007, he made many mistakes. Now, he can knit a cap in a week.

Jeon even shares knitting information with six or seven other male colleagues, and has set a goal of knitting 10 caps this year.

Save the Children launched its cap-knitting campaign today. Launched in 2007, the campaign sells knitting kits for 12,000 won (10.30 U.S. dollars), receives donations of cash and caps, and sends them to newborns in underdeveloped nations. In countries with abrupt changes in daily temperature, warm caps can protect newborns from hyperthermia by raising their body temperature two degrees centigrade.

In Korea, 25,000 knit caps were collected in the first campaign between November 2007 and February last year. In the second campaign between October last year and March this year, the figure rose to 80,000 caps. The number of participants also jumped from 15,000 to 25,000.

Knit caps donated in the first campaign were sent to Angola, Laos and Cambodia, three countries whose infant death rates are high. All the caps collected in the second campaign were sent to Mali.

Encouraged by this, Save the Children’s Hong Kong branch plans to launch the campaign soon.

The civic group’s campaign has greatly benefited from passionate donors. Whenever a campaign is held, the family of Hong Yun-ju has knit caps together every evening, instead of watching TV since 2007. Hong says knitting gets her nostalgic for old memories, and even presents knitting kits to her relatives and friends.

The campaign enables participants to donate their time and effort. Many say their experience of knitting caps is different from donating money.

Choi Hye-jeong, a staff member of Save the Children, said, “Knitting can attract people. Many participants knit caps and donate them every year. I hope many Koreans will donate caps this year. We plan to collect more than 80,000 knit caps by the end of February. Warm caps knit by you will save newborns in Mali, which is 12,713 kilometers away from Korea.”

yunjung@donga.com