Speaker: Upcycling Wool Sweaters to Feed Hungry People: The ReMitts Story
Ann Massie Nelson from ReMitts and Monica Wahlberg from The River Food Pantry
ReMitts was created in 2009 by Janet Tupy with a single focus: Raise money to help people in the Madison area have access to healthy food. Janet read about a pastor who challenged everyone in his congregation to take $100 and grow it into something positive. She thought, “What could I do if I invested $100?” The answer? Buy supplies to make mittens out of cast-off sweaters; sell the mittens and donate 100% of the proceeds to local food pantries.
That first year the $100 grew into nearly $4,000. ReMitts raised more than $112,000 in 2023, and to date has raised more than $875,000 for three Madison-area food pantries: St. Vincent dePaul, WayForward (formerly Middleton Outreach Ministry) and The River Food Pantry.
What started as a small group of friends sewing mittens has grown into a vibrant group of about 40 volunteers. Each pair of mittens takes approximately three hours to make. Volunteers work year-round to create the mittens, which are sold during November and December at more than 30 small businesses in Dane County and at craft fairs.
At the December meeting, we’ll hear from Ann Nelson, MKG member and lead volunteer at ReMitts, and Monica Wahlberg, Development Director at The River Food Pantry, about ReMitts' mission, the story behind what’s been described as “Madison’s fundraiser,” and how ReMitts’ proceeds are being used at The River Food Pantry to meet the growing needs of food-insecure Dane County residents. ReMitts will also be vending, selling their mittens and dryer balls.
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