The Woolery loves to give back to the Fiber Arts in as many ways as we can. We do this by contributing to charities, selling ethically sourced products, funding guild grants, and we’re always on the look out for new ways to help out.

We have written in the past about how we support Conservation Breed Sheep by selling rare sheep breeds’ fiber. This helps the farmers that raise Conservation Breed Sheep and the sheep themselves by creating a demand for their wool.

True Vineyard Ministries is a charity that we are proud to support. True Vineyard believes that solutions to poverty should be entrepreneurial, innovative and holistic. Through an initiative called Handspun Hope, True Vineyard employs 44 Rwandan widows. The widows are learning the skill of yarn making in order to earn an income and to provide for the basic needs of their families. The women receive an above average fair wage, healthcare, a stipend to send their children to public school, and are receiving counseling services to overcome traumas experienced during the genocide. We have helped to make the Handspun Hope Initiative possible through the gift of spinning wheels.

Carrying African Fair Trade Baskets is a great way to give back because we love the look of the baskets, but they also provide jobs for African weavers which allows them to support their families.

We also offer a Fiber Arts Outreach Grant that aims to encourage the expansion of the fiber arts. Carmel Crafts Guild received our 2016 Grant and used it to add a new teaching program, “Beginning Weaving Using Rigid Heddle Looms” which they have been creating new weavers through! The guild received; 6 Schacht 20″ Flip Rigid Heddle Looms, 6 LeClerc stick shuttles, 6 copies of Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom by S. Mitchell, the shipping costs, and money for advertising the class through the grant.

If your guild is looking to fund a new project check out our Woolery Fiber Arts Outreach Grant Application for more details. Also, if you’re involved with a Fiber Arts related charity we’d love to hear about it!