The Centre Knitters Guild is proud to support several local charities. We routinely give to the following organizations:

  • Mommy Shoppe – baby items, including booties, hats, sweaters, and blankets; mittens; fingerless mitts; hats; scarves; sweaters; cowls
  • Pregnancy Resource Clinic – blankets, booties, hats, and sweaters
  • Out of the Cold – hats, mittens, fingerless mitts, cowls, and scarves
  • Mt. Nittany Medical Center – knitted knockers, baby hats, and chemo hats
  • Geisinger – knitted knockers, chemo caps
  • The Jana Marie Foundation – worry worms, infinity scarves
  • Helping Hands Pantry – knitted or crocheted items including hats, mittens, gloves, scarves, cowls, blankets and lovies; all sizes needed for hats, mittens, and gloves

If needed, Norma brings patterns, yarn, buttons, etc. to our guild meetings each month to use for charity knitting projects. There are many other free patterns available for these items on Ravelry, as well. Here are a few to get you started!

The Jana Marie Foundation is interested in infinity scarves that are long enough to wrap around a person’s shoulders at least twice. These would be given at their Survivors of Suicide Loss group for the individuals to wrap around themselves and feel like they were getting a hug from the person they had lost. If you have any questions about what exactly is needed for these infinity scarves, please reach out to Norma.

The Jana Marie Foundation is also in need of worry worms. If you’re interested in making a worry worm, just grab a size G or H hook and a small amount of worsted weight yarn, around 8 to 10 yards, and chain 30 stitches. Skip the first chain, then in the next chain, make 4 single crochet stitches. Repeat this to the last chain, then in the last chain, make 10 single crochet stitches, chain 1, and fasten off. These worms will get eyes and names, and be distributed for use as a small friend, fidget, or something to tell your worries to.

The State College Area School District’s Family and Community Engagement Team operates the Helping Hands Pantry for the benefit of district students, families, and staff.  The Helping Hands Pantry welcomes knitted or crocheted items including hats, mittens, gloves, scarves, cowls, blankets and lovies.  For hats, mittens, and gloves, all sizes are needed. For more information, reach out to Sarah!

We’re currently running low on the buttons we give out to use for the baby sweaters, so if you have any spare 3/4″ buttons or smaller and would like to donate them, let Norma know!

Norma Zaccagni is in charge of the charity project supplies and collections. Have something you’d like to donate? Bring it to a guild meeting and drop it off with Norma! If you can’t make it to the meetings but still want to donate something, she is also willing to meet outside of the regular meetings. Norma organizes the donated items and determines the best organization for them to go to, then drops them off to those organizations.

Questions? Stop by a guild meeting and see Norma or email her.

2025 Philanthropy Knitting Month

As you may know, every year, our October Knitting Guild meeting is devoted to philanthropic knitting. This year, we invited representatives from the Mommy Shoppe and the Jana Marie Foundation to speak at our meeting and tell us about what their organizations do, and we accepted many, many donated knit and crocheted items to distribute to both those organizations and the others we regularly give to.

The Mommy Shoppe is a nonprofit that provide free or low priced baby/toddler clothing and supplies in our community. The custodian of the child may schedule an appointment to pick things out from the Mommy Shoppe to take for free once a month per child, or anyone can come in any time they’re open to shop for items. Money from these sales goes towards their running costs. They will accept donated clothing, hats, mittens, blankets, and more. If you have any questions on what you can donate or want to direct someone in need to their organization, you can check out their Facebook page or website.

The Jana Marie Foundation is a nonprofit that focuses on promoting good mental health through community outreach programs and mental health education. They work with the local schools to host programs to build stronger, more supportive communities, starting with our young people. They also have a program for those who have lost loved ones to suicide. This is our first year working with the Jana Marie Foundation by providing crocheted worry worms, which get distributed at their events and programs, and infinity scarves, which get distributed at the Survivors of Suicide Loss program. You can check their Facebook page or website for more information about the organization and what they do in our community.

Thank you to everyone who joined us at our October 2025 Philanthropy Knitting meeting, and a big thank you to everyone who donated things this year! October marks the start of when many of the warm items are needed, so please feel free to continue to knit and crochet items to donate, and we will make sure they go to the organizations who can get them to those who need them! Here are all the lovely knit and crocheted items we received this year:

Top ↑