Knitting for Cool Kids has been running in Rotorua for the past five years.
Knitting for Cool Kids is a volunteer programme providing new-entrant students from low-decile schools with their own hand-knitted care pack. It has been running in Rotorua for the past five years.
Miriam Ruberl started Knitting for Cool Kids in 2011 and has slowly built it up with more people volunteering to knit each year.
The project has been so successful they have gone from delivering knitting packs to three schools in their first year to 21 Rotorua schools this year. Miriam expects them to deliver almost 800 packs across those schools.
For many of the kids, this is the first time they are given their own, new, hand-knitted items of clothing.
“The best thing is knowing and being reminded every year by the children and by the teachers and by parents who get in touch and caregivers that what we do is relevant,” Miriam said.
“It’s not just something that makes us knitters feel good. It lets a child have a good experience early in school of being given a gift.
“And over the years, many kids have said, ‘I’ve never had a gift before’ and ‘I’ve never had a whole bag of clothes to myself’ and ‘I’ve never been able to choose my own from a really good range of colours’.”
Miriam remembers what a gift like this means to kids.
“What I know is, having grown up poor as a child myself, that being cold matters, being poor matters.
“It didn’t matter why I was poor. It mattered that I was poor and had nothing on my feet and nothing to keep warm at all.”
The project is growing across the country and Miriam is currently helping knitters in Matamata and Invercargill set up their own Cool Kids knitting groups.
“My personal ambitions are that every town will take care of their new-entrant kids. That’s what I’m gunning for.”
A big selling point for a lot of the volunteer knitters is that the finished items are going to local kids in Rotorua.
There is a fair bit of time and energy that goes into making each pack, according to volunteer knitter, Glennys Kereopa.
“Each pack contains a beanie, slippers, a scarf and gloves. So times those 770 packs by four garments in each - that’s a lot of knitting all done by volunteers.
“Some people are faster knitters than others. I am a reasonably fast knitter, so in four days, I think I could put out a pack.”
A ‘close-knit’ group of women in the Garden Retirement Village in Rotorua have been knitting for three years after seeing a notice in the paper.
“We just thought it was a good idea for the children around the Rotorua area who might not have something warm to wear to school,” said Janette Jones. “And so we got cracking and started knitting the hats, scarves and mittens and slippers.
“We’ve got one lady here that’s visually impaired and we got her going on knitting scarves after she used to just come and sit and talk to us.
“She’s probably made about 50 scarves on her own over that time, which is very good.”
When the packs are delivered, the excitement on the kids’ faces and the energy in the classroom is tangible, said Glenholme Primary School principal Sarah Thompson.
“The children really appreciate it because it’s something that will keep them warm.
“They can wear them to and from school and the slippers they can wear inside the classroom and they can take them home.
“So, we really appreciate it. It’s a great service to our school.”
