Scarves for Hope has raised ten thousand dollars for the Hope International Development Agency

By Tommy Osborne

Scarves for Hope

Local business raising money for clean water in Ethiopia

Aug 3, 2024 | 1:49 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Rikki Patterson’s business Scarves for Hope combines two things she is passionate about: her love of crocheting, and her desire to help create easy access to clean water in Ethiopia.

“They’re in desperate need of clean drinking water, which is something that most people don’t have. We take it for granted here. We turn on our taps, water comes out, we can drink it, we don’t have to think about it. But in southern Ethiopia, they get their water from streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, pools that are contaminated with, dangerous bacteria that make them very, very sick. And this is all they have to drink, they don’t have the options that we do for getting clean water,” Patterson explained.

Her business started seven years ago when Patterson travelled to Ethiopia with the Hope International Development Agency to see the situation in person. The Hope International Development Agency is focused on delivering easily accessible clean water to communities around the world, and Patterson specifically donates to the Agency’s efforts in Gofa, Ethiopia.

“I just felt that I wanted to do more, that I wanted to help in a bigger way. I already had the hobby of crocheting and I had started making scarves, so I just decided I would turn that into a fundraiser,” Patterson said, when explaining how her business started.

As her business grew she started dying yarn as well, and explained $20 of each scarf sale and $5 of each yarn sale goes to Hope International. Since her business started she has raised $10,000. While the need for clean drinking water is obvious, Patterson adds there are many other benefits for a community as well once easily accessible water is in place.

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“They don’t have to spend the time walking in the hot sun and carrying heavy water for several kilometres a day to collect dirty water that’s just going to make them sick. And when they free up that time, then the girls can go to school and the women can spend their time actually making an income for their own families,” she said.

You can learn more about the Hope International Development Agency HERE, or visit Scarves for Hope’s website HERE.

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