Students and faculty assembled Monday afternoon at the School of Informatics East building to make no-knit hats and scarves for underprivileged youth in Monroe County.
The event was organized by Lamara Warren, the interim dean for Diversity and Education at the School of Informatics and Computing. Warren said she wanted an inclusive activity that honored King’s legacy, and economic justice was a value that moved beyond boundaries of race.
Many of the scarf and hat combos will be donated to underprivileged children at Templeton Elementary School, and Warren said she is in search of other agencies that could make use of them.
“I’ve been with the School of Informatics since 2009, and, to my knowledge, this is the first time we’ve done, as a school, a Dr. MLK Jr. event for the holiday,” Warren said.
Warren said she came up with the idea for the no-knit scarves and hats with her undergraduate assistant, Amanda Sill. Sill, a junior, said she was enlisted by Warren to cut the clothing outlines into fleece fabric.
The event had been in the works since fall semester when the two began discussing it, Sill said.
The fleece varied from brightly colored zebra stripes and tie-dye designs to solid, neutral colors. Sill said Warren wanted to find patterns everyone would like. Each scarf and hat bundle was accompanied by an instruction sheet where attendees could learn how to tie the knots for the hat, a simple process that resulted in each participant making multiple sets. The scarves required a knot or two on each side, and the hats had frayed edges for tying a row of knots.
Katie Pawlowski, a freshman, said it was important to give back to the community, especially young people. She researched options for community involvement Monday and chose this one specifically.
“I had a couple of options, but I feel like this was the most impactful, especially with it getting cold and some kids not being as blessed as others,” Pawlowski said.
She said King’s message of nonviolence was something the whole country could learn a lesson from.
Sill, who spent 13 hours with a friend cutting the outlines out, gave an introduction by speaking about the importance of remembering the economic equality King sought. King was known for his work in the field of racial justice but should also be thought of as conscious of class distinctions and inequality, Sill said.
Derrick Baines, a first-year graduate student, received an email inviting him to the event from the informatics school. Last semester the school had given him the opportunity to participate in a clothing drive for a similar cause, which he said he admired.
“I didn’t grow up as rich as everybody else, so I know what it feels to not get a hat for Christmas or not get a scarf,” Baines said.
Baines said it was important to love people as they were, which was one of King’s many beliefs.
Warren said in the future she would like to see speakers from the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields who embody King’s philosophy at the school of informatics as an addition to outreach activities like the one on Monday.
“Technology is here to stay, and it’s going to be a part of every fabric of society,” Warren said. “It’s best for us to be good partners in education, as well as good community partners to give back to our Bloomington community for all ages.”
