Welcome to Warm Up America!

You can make a difference to someone in need by:

• crocheting or knitting one or more 7" by 9" sections for Warm Up America!
• joining sections into completed afghans,
• donating yarns and needles/hooks to groups in your community,
• contributing money to expand WUA! to groups nationwide.

Information about getting started follows and it is as easy as 1, 2, 3.

1. INDIVIDUALS * GROUPS * STUDENTS

You may choose to work on your own, ask neighbors and friends to join you, involve your co-workers, or members of an organization to which you belong. Warm Up America! is a terrific school, Scout, Family, Career and Community Leaders of America or 4-H project too.

Hints on getting a group going...

• Ask for volunteers. This can be as informal as talking to a neighbor or if you are in an office setting, posting a notice on a bulletin board. If there is an ongoing organization or church group to which you belong, ask that one meeting be designated to Warm Up America! And suggest that members bring needles and any leftover yarn they might have around the house. (If you are a knitter or crocheter, you might want to bring extra needles and yarn as well.)
• If you are teacher, scout, Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, or 4-H leader, Warm Up America! is a wonderful community service project in which to involve the children, plus they learn a skill that will last a lifetime. Involve them in completing the afghan and selecting the place to donate the afghan in your town. If you need help teaching, ask for parent volunteers or seek out volunteers from a local knitting or crocheting guild in your area. For a copy of:
  KIDS Warm Up America! which includes more helpful hints.

You don't have to crochet or knit to Warm Up America!

• Within any group there will be people who want to help but just do not knit or crochet. They can help by weaving in yarn ends, joining seams, and if they like to embroider or add embellishments to a finished afghan. They also can "bag" the finished sections, selecting enough to complete one afghan. You might ask them to pull out pastel-colored squares and set them aside for baby blankets.

2. KNIT * CROCHET * FINISHING

• Download and reproduce the FREE patterns at this web site and start knitting and crocheting. If you are working in a group, reproduce and distribute them. You'll be amazed how quickly sections will be completed
• For assembling the sections into afghans, there are helpful tips on the "Tips on joining Warm Up America! afghans" page at this web site. Review this section first because it will save you time later, such as working in ends of yarn as you complete squares or for the ambitious knitters and crocheters, making strips rather than sections. Also, there is a need for smaller blankets-lap and baby sizes.

Sending Sections to Foundation Offices

Because the Foundation has been inundated with individual knitted and crocheted sections, we encourage you to work locally, joining your sections to others to create warm afghans. Distributing these beautiful patchwork blankets in your own community is a very rewarding experience. However, if that is not possible, you may choose to send your individual sections(s) or afghans to the Warm Up America! Foundation.

When you send us sections, please be sure to include your name and address on the inside of the package to let us know who has contributed her/his talents to making these sections. If you complete an entire afghan, tag it with a little note about the knitters and crocheters who made it. Ship sections and/or afghans to:

Warm Up America! Foundation
469 Hospital Dr., 2nd Floor Suite E
Gastonia, NC 28054

• PLEASE NOTE that Warm Up America! can only accept NEW afghans.

3. REACHING PEOPLE IN NEED WITH WARM UP AMERICA! AFGHANS

• Women's shelters
• Nursing homes
• Children's hospitals
• Hospitals and hospices
• Daycare centers
• Veterans' homes
• Churches
• AIDS facilities
• Homeless shelters
• National non-profit agencies such as the American Red Cross

Looking for an agency in your town to which to donate an afghan? Look under social service agencies or social and human services in the phone book. Inquire at churches, senior centers and chapters of national organizations. Many have projects that provide basic services to families on limited incomes. Ask friends and group members. Many group members may have favorite charities.

Once you begin asking around, you'll be surprised at how many suggestions you'll receive. Again, if you are unable to identify an agency or group in your community, please contact or ship afghans to the Foundation. We work with many American Red Cross chapters and several other organizations, stockpiling afghans so that when emergencies strike there are blankets available for families in need.

Keep in touch

Drop us a note and send photos. We'd like to include them at our web site. We like to know who you are, if you worked with others, the number of sections (or afghans) completed and where the afghans were distributed. Make your local newspaper, television, and radio stations aware of what you and your friends are doing. The media is especially interested in reporting on worthwhile community programs and the exposure will result in more volunteers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding this program (info@warmupamerica.org). And, if you send us a photo, we'll try to get it on the "Meet the People Who Warm Up America!" page.

We look forward to hearing from you, and thank you for joining us in Warming Up America!

Here's how you can donate: Download the Financial Contribution Form. Complete the information, and mail it to Foundation offices:

Warm Up America! Foundation
Attention: WSD
469 Hospital Dr., 2nd Floor Suite E
Gastonia, NC 28054

704-824-7838