Hats HOPE for

by Elena Wrye

IIT’S 7:30 AM AT THE MCCRACKEN COUNTY JAIL, and for some inmates, the workday has already started.

Upon entering the jail, you can catch a glimpse of a quaint group of women fervently crocheting various hats, scarves, and wigs in what used to be the detectives’ interview room.

“I get here at 7:30 just for them,” Heather Foster, Public Relations Director at the McCracken County Jail said. “I’m humbled to be a part of it. I look forward to getting up and coming to work everyday.”

The group came together in September under the initiative of inmate Kim Cowsert. Kim had learned to crochet at the jail from a previous program and wrote a letter to Heather asking if they could reinstate the activity. Heather willingly reached out to jailer David Knight to get approval for the program, and upon gaining such, went and purchased the necessary supplies for the women.

The idea to start with hats for cancer patients came from the McCracken County High School’s HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America) program, which Heather’s daughter is a part of, and a desire they had to work with cancer patients. The students donated yarn to the women, shared the work that was being done on Facebook, and from there, the remaining donations came flooding in.

Since every material that the women work with has to come through donations, they were grateful to the number of individuals, groups, churches, and stitching clubs who stepped up to the plate to make sure that they had what they needed.

“There was just an outpouring of people bringing in yarn,” Heather said. “And then the girls were working and they said you know what, we want to name it. So they came up with Hats for Hope.”

The school was able to take a large box of hats that the women made and donate them to the Baptist Health Ray and Kay Eckstein Cancer Center. Seeing the joy that it brought the women at the jail, along with the genuine need that it filled, Heather reached out to Gaylon Hayden with Book for Hope to let her know of their own “hope” that was being spun. Gaylon gratefully took a box with her to Vanderbilt to give to the child cancer patients that she assists.

Word spread quickly about the group’s new venture of creativity and generosity. Susan Guess contacted Heather about the women making hats for Scarf in the Park – an event in which community members can receive hats, scarves, gloves, and socks for free on Christmas Eve.

With each progress update that Heather posts on the McCracken County Jail Facebook page, new donations and requests are always soon to follow. After a Facebook post updating community members and donors on the group’s projects, Heather was soon contacted by the McCracken County Library for the ladies to donate items to their Black Friday event, “A People’s Thanksgiving,” where people could receive free meals, hats, socks, and hygiene products.

Multiple local events such as these make for large orders of hats, but that doesn’t deter these crafty ladies. The women of Hats for Hope are crocheting from 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM each day and create an estimated five to eight hats per day. To date, well over 400 hats have been made. That’s over 400 warmer heads, over 400 hearts thought of and over 400 people prayed for.

With each finished product, the women learn new skills and techniques in regards to their art. So much so, that when they learned of a program that was creating character wigs for child cancer patients, they decided to explore their own versions of wigs for patients as well. They have also created hats for babies born prematurely, along with children in the NICU. The group’s work has restored not only creativity and confidence within the inmates, but also a sense of purpose.

“It’s become more of a ministry than anything to the girls,” Heather said of the camaraderie within the group. “It’s been a God-send. I can’t take any credit for it whatsoever. They pray for whomever those hats reach and they pray for each other. If one of them goes to court and happens to get bad news, they’re there for each other. We started out with three girls, and now we have six to seven here each day. They get here at 7:30 to come and work, they eat lunch, come back, and then I have to tell them I need to leave, otherwise they would stay here all night.”

“Not only is it going to a good cause, but we’ve all gotten really close. We’ve made great relationships in here,” Kim Cowsert said.

There’s a sense of family in the room as the ladies smile and speak collectively about life after jail. There are talks of continued gatherings in their own “she sheds” to practice their craft, as well as intentional fellowship to hold each other accountable and learn from this season of life that they have lived together.

“We’ve all decided that when we get out we’re going to be in the backyard around a campfire together or in our ‘she shed’ and we’re going to be knitting and talking about ‘remember when’ moments,” program participant Kimberley George said.

As for their crochet future after jail, both the ladies and

Heather have big plans. It’s most certainly a craft that could be valuable in terms of creating pieces to sell, however not many saw themselves doing so after they get out. If anything, they foresee continuing the craft, but also continuing the generosity and making sure they can get hats into the hands of those who truly need them.

“To know that a child will be wearing our hats, it just makes us feel good. I don’t plan on selling them. I do plan on continuing this, but I plan on continuing to donate them as well,” fellow participant Marguerite Ingram said.

Heather dreams of being able to provide the women with a “kit” of sorts, complete with a loom and yarn that they can take with them when they get out.

“It would be great if we had a way of doing that, so that they’ve got it and can continue to do it. You know, something to occupy their mind when they go home. Because everyday life is hard, and if you’re doing the right thing when you get out, then you’ve got something to occupy your time when you might be drawn to the world and what it has become,” Heather said. “Doing these types of things, you can find something else within yourself. I believe that art, and just being creative, opens up a whole different side of you.”

Donations to Hats for Hope are welcome in the form of yarn and crochet looms (both new and used), and can be dropped off in the lobby of the McCracken County Jail Monday – Friday, between 9 AM and 4 PM.

Gar y B Houston / E Frederick Straub, Jr / R Christion Hutson

C Thomas Miller / James R Coltharp, Jr / Sharlott K Higdon

Nicholas M. Holland / Elizabeth A. Wieneke / Ryan T. Polczynski

Jessica S. Morgan / Eric C. Straub / Matthew S. Eddy

Of Counsel, Richard C Roberts