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Lillian Shen is surrounded by crocheted items she plans to donate, in Vaughan, Ont. She runs Stitch In Hope, a non-profit that helps young people donate crocheted items to hospitals.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
The organizer: Lillian Shen
The pitch: Launching Stitch In Hope
Lillian Shen has always loved drawing, painting and crafting. When she was 13 years old she discovered crocheting and that quickly became her passion.
“I was inspired by just seeing videos of crochet on social media and I got pretty obsessed with crocheting,” said Ms. Shen, who is 17 and lives in Toronto. “I started crocheting every day.”
She began making intricate tiny animals, using shiny yarn and colourful details, and posting her work on social media. She soon built up a large following and began selling her patterns.
She also donated many of her creations to family, friends, hospitals and seniors’ homes. “Just seeing the joy it brought to them really inspired me to scale this impact,” she said. “So I thought, why not just start a non-profit organization dedicated to donating crochet items to other people to spread joy?”
That led her to create Stitch In Hope, a non-profit network of 300 crocheters from across two dozen countries, including Canada. Group members make everything from hats and blankets to pouches, tapestries, “mug rugs,” sweaters and dresses. They donate the crafts to hospitals, retirement centres and orphanages. They also organize crocheting workshops and community events.
Stitch In Hope has recently launched “Crochet4Cancer,” and Ms. Shen wants to break the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of crocheted items, which currently stands at 1,358. “We’re trying to crochet 2,000 items to donate to cancer patients in Toronto,” she said.
Ms. Shen, who will start Grade 12 in September, still crochets as much as possible. When her friends scoff at her “grandma hobby,” she shows them her Instagram account. “They immediately see that, ‘oh, this is what she means by crochet,’” she said.
Everyone in the group covers the cost of their supplies and deliveries, but Ms. Shen is hoping to raise money to offset the expenses. “We haven’t really put that much emphasis on it yet because we’re mostly just focusing on making items,” she said.
Starting Stitch In Hope has taught Ms. Shen a lot about leadership and working with people from a variety of backgrounds. But more importantly “it just helped me see that there is good in our world and if we all unite, despite our differences, we can produce a really good outcome.“