Volunteers Knit Thousands of Hats for Homeless Across the Country

DODGEVILLE, Wis., Dec. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- It took four months, more than 5,000 pounds of donated yarn and hundreds of talented volunteers to knit over 25,000 hats for homeless individuals across the country as part of the Lands' End FeelGood initiative. Lands' End kicked off the FeelGood campaign in September in an effort to warm the homeless and displaced this season. For every Lands' End FeelGood sweater purchased, the company donated signature FeelGood yarn to One Heart Foundation's Warming Families, a nationwide knitting charity. Hundreds of volunteer knitters embraced the challenge many knitting for the entire four months resulting in a total of 29,560 hats knitted and donated to homeless organizations from coast to coast.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071029/AQM053LOGO)

"The results of this campaign are simply heart warming," said Nick Coe, president, Lands' End. "We are truly grateful to the volunteers that donated their time and talents to such a rewarding and meaningful effort."

Lands' End donated more than 5,000 pounds of proprietary FeelGood yarn that is as soft as cashmere but offers the durability and value of cotton. The company offers a FeelGood sweater collection in a variety sweater styles for women and wanted to find a way to utilize the yarn in a meaningful way this season.

As a result, yarn was delivered to hundreds of Warming Family volunteers as well as Lands' End employees and local community members. Vickie Howell, best-selling craft author, knitting personality and host of TV's Knitty Gritty also worked with Lands' End to help instruct novice knitters, create hat patterns for the campaign and to host "knit out" events to keep the momentum going. Additionally New York Times best-selling author Kate Jacobs supported the initiative by joining knit outs across the country and reading from The Friday Night Knitting Club and Knit the Season.

"We are thrilled that our volunteer knitters have accomplished the amazing goal of knitting thousands of hats and meeting our mission of helping families," said Alan Osmond, Warming Families. "Through yarn donations and knitting by our volunteers, we were able to help thousands of families in need this winter. We thank the volunteers for sharing their hearts this season."

About Lands' End

Lands' End® is one of the world's largest retailers of casual and tailored clothing for women, men, children and infants around the world. In addition, Lands' End offers an innovative collection of fine-quality goods for the home. Lands' End merchandise can be purchased online at www.landsend.com, by calling 1-800-800-5800 and by visiting the Lands' End Shops at Sears. Lands' End is a proud member of Sears Holdings Corporation (Nasdaq: SHLD). And, all high-quality Lands' End merchandise is Guaranteed. Period.®

About Warming Families

Warming Families, a project of the One Heart Foundation www.oneheart.org, is a 100% volunteer project that delivers blankets and other warm items to the homeless and displaced while strengthening families through charity work. At the heart of this project are area volunteers who function to coordinate efforts and locate and supply local shelters and nursing homes.

Special Note of Thanks

YRC Logistics, a global logistics services company, shipped the FeelGood yarn from the yarn vendor to Lands' End in Wisconsin free of charge. With this generous donation of shipping services we were able to expand the scope of our donation and help more people in need.

UPS, donated shipping services to Lands' End in order to supplement the fees involved with delivering FeelGood yarn to knitters across the United States.

http://www.landsend.com/feelgood

SOURCE Lands' End

Back to top

RELATED LINKS
http://www.landsend.com/
http://www.oneheart.org/