Connect
To Top

Meet Kathleen Marsh of Knitting4Peace in Park Hill Neighborhood

Avatar photo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathleen Marsh.

Kathleen, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve been working with Knitting4Peace (K4P) as their Executive Director for the past year. It’s been an adventure! Prior to working with K4P, I worked in human services positions as a caregiver for adults with developmental disabilities, a church youth director, and I also continue to work as a music therapist and music teacher.

As a crocheter myself, I was immediately drawn to K4P’s mission when I learned about their work. Knitting4Peace seeks to bring hope, healing, and peace to people in need in our Denver neighborhoods and around the world. We do so by mobilizing and encouraging volunteers to crochet or knit handmade items that are requested by people and organizations in need. Volunteers who don’t crochet or knit but want to deliver hope, healing, and peace get involved by physically delivering warm, beautiful, practical items to groups like premature infants at the NICU at University of Colorado Hospital, homeless families served by Family Promise, and organizations serving immigrants and refugees arriving in the Denver area. Other volunteers deliver handmade items when they are on medical mission trips or traveling overseas.

The handmade items we deliver and donate? They’re incredible! Our volunteers dedicate endless hours to make and donate items that people truly need: hats, scarves, gloves, washcloths, blankets, and more. One of the most requested items we make and deliver are Peace Pal dolls. They’re necessary because they give the recipient (a child living with cancer or a refugee arriving n the US from a war-torn country) a sense of comfort and hope when it may otherwise feel absent.

Along with my two fantastic co-workers Tammy and Mary Ellen, a supportive board of directors, and numerous volunteers, I help oversee the day to day operations of K4P. I work to find community partners who want to receive or give in relationship with K4P. whether that be in the form of knitted goods or financial gifts. It’s soul-filling work that I get to do!

Has it been a smooth road?
I have enjoyed my journey in the non-profit world this year as K4P’s director. It has been rewarding and it has been immensely challenging! My educational background is in music education and music therapy. I’ve been a volunteer for several non-profit organizations and served in leadership capacities, but becoming a director of a nation-wide nonprofit organization was a dive straight into the deep end of the pool!

One of the biggest struggles is maintaining my work-life balance. I find it enjoyable to do the daily and weekly tasks of organizing, budgeting, emailing, marketing, phone calls, etc. to be fun! But trying to fit all of those tasks into a day’s work is tricky!

Ironically, I’ve found that setting a practice of crocheting at the beginning or end of each day can be a wonderful way to have a more clear mindset and perspective on the work I’m doing. On the days that I don’t set aside the time to crochet, I feel frazzled and rushed. On the days that I savor the moment to enjoy a cup of coffee and stitch a few rows on a blanket for our house or begin a scarf to donate to Knitting4Peace, my day feels balanced. I try to set aside my weekends and when possible, evenings, to enjoy time with my husband, dog, friends, and family. Working in the nonprofit sector can be an all-consuming job if one lets it; I am grateful to have the opportunity to rest and relax when the day’s work is done.

Another interesting and fun challenge in my work is the fact that K4P is a nation-wide organization. We are based in Denver and receive and send handmade knitted items from our office. We deliver thousands of handmade items to over 20 organizations in need in Denver each year. And, we have incredible support outside of Denver! We have over 100 knitting groups (called Peace Pods) in over 20 states around the U.S. who gather in community to crochet and knit for peace. They donate items locally to people in need in their own neighborhoods or mail their handmade items to our office in Denver to support our efforts to deliver handmade items internationally. Ultimately, it can feel like a very large network of people and groups to oversee! At the end of the day, I try to see Knitting4Peace as the big, beautiful community it is. Much of the work of making and delivering handmade items to people in need falls into place all over the country; we have so many dedicated crocheters and knitters!

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Knitting4Peace story. Tell us more about it.
The mission of Knitting4Peace is to provide hope, healing, and peace to people in need, one stitch at a time. We do so by mobilizing and encouraging crocheters, knitters, and quilters to make and deliver handmade items that people in need have requested. These items include: baby blankets and booties and bibs, hats, mittens, scarves, washcloths, shawls, quilted sleeping mats, and Peace Pal dolls.

Since K4P’s founding in 2006, we have delivered items of warmth, practicality, and comfort to over 157,000 individuals in need! In addition to serving our neighbors in Denver, we donate items around the US and in 80 countries around the world.

I feel what sets our nonprofit organization apart is 1- the spirit and dedication of our supporters and 2-our strong commitment to donating items that people request, rather than what we think they need.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Knitting4Peace is in great company alongside other knitting charity organizations. It’s my hope that our organizations and others continue to work together as a larger community to support each other. In current culture and society that too often includes injustices and ignorance of others’ needs, I feel our mission and work is an opportunity for acceptance and welcome of others’ needs and backgrounds. An act as simple as knitting or delivering a scarf or crocheting a hat for someone whose life is drastically different than yours is a way to pause, reflect, and act on another’s perspective and needs.

As a whole, the art of crafting and creating is becoming so relevant and popular again, and I am so glad! My grandmother is a retired Home Economics teacher and I often feel sad when I think that the practical skills she taught are not so frequently shared with today’s youth. It’s wonderful to see crocheting and knitting, especially when done for others, as an activity that is gaining relevance again! The art of working with one’s hands, when surrounded by so many other distractions, is beautiful!

Contact Info:


Image Credit:
Head shot of Kathleen Marsh courtsey of Stine Hildre Art, Other images courtesy of Kathleen Marsh

Getting in touch: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

Related Items

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in