Volunteers gearing up for communitywide scarf distribution
NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (Oct. 27, 2022) – It’s been a busy few weeks for the founder of the Scarf Project and her team of helpers.
Toni Kaltenbaugh of New Philadelphia organized a get-together a couple of weeks ago to sort and tag the more than 1,600 scarves that volunteers will hang around the county on November 11th for passersby to pick up.
“People brought food, and we just had a good time. And a lot of the people who were there don’t knit or crochet but they wanted to help, and they were able to help by matching things up and helping to do the tags and bag stuff up to get it ready to go.”
And Kaltenbaugh says there’s still more to do as distribution day approaches including hanging fliers listing the 20 pickup locations across Tuscarawas, Guernsey, Stark, and Cuyahoga counties.
“I’m putting them up everywhere that I possibly can, and if there’s anybody that could hang up fliers for me, swing by my house. I will happily give you a stack of them to hang up. That would help immensely. Or call me and I’ll bring them to you. It’s 330-432-1930.”
Kaltenbaugh started The Scarf Project seven years ago after watching a video about a group that was doing something similar in another community. She says it’s grown exponentially since that first year when they passed out 123 scarves at the New Philadelphia Rite Aid and now has affiliates around the globe (in Utah, New York, Canada, and Australia).
“We have two locations in Australia that are very active. Theirs go up at a different season than ours because their opposite of us, so our summertime is their scarf time. We have two in Canada, one in New York, and one in Utah, and they’re all active. They hang theirs the same day that we do.”
Kaltenbaugh lives at 730 Tuscarawas Avenue NW and has a tote on her back porch where people can donate scarves that are new or handmade and bundles of yarn year-round.