#KnitForRefugees a Campaign by UNHCR

This July, the UNHCR teamed up with Twitter to launch the #KnitForRefugees campaign. The idea is to raise awareness and funds ahead of the 2019–2020 winter season, which for many Syrian refugees, will be their ninth winter in countries that are neighboring Syria.

For this campaign, Twitter is also working with London-based startup Kniterate, the creators of the digital knitting machine; to show just how powerful tweets are in today’s digital landscape. Kniterate will knit scarfs for each twitter user that participates to raise awareness on this campaign.

News of refugees succumbing to cold weather in countries like Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan comes every winter season. Calls to action and help are often times too little, too late to help more than 14 million refugees brace during the harsh winters.

That’s why #KnitForRefugees is starting in the middle of summer: July and will be ongoing around the globe till November 30, 2019.

Retweet to Help Knit a Scarf

The idea is that people, who retweet the video explaining the campaign, will have their account handles knitted into a massive scarf. The scarf is being automatically knitted by a smart knitting machine, powered by the number of retweets the #KnitForRefugees campaign gets. 500 usernames who retweet will not only help the scarf be made, but also get their handles written in the Unity Scarf.

Click here to watch and share the beautiful video campaign.

UNHCR’s donations to help winterization efforts will help refugees that are far from home, that are often living in harsh conditions, survive the winter and stay warm, dry, and safe.

“Humanity is the thread that binds us together” is what inspired the UNHCR and Twitter to use yarn and knit together the Unity Scarf, powered by users’ retweets. Each retweet helps make the scarf even longer, and the final result will tour around the world to both raise awareness and gather funds before it’s too late.

Altogether for Syrian Refugees to Stay Warm in Winter

With donation drives often falling very short of their targets, it’s more important than ever to raise awareness about refugees’ plight in the MENA region, and empower individuals, organizations and governments who want to help but not sure how. UNHCR’s winterization efforts will go a long way, to ensure that the millions of Syrian refugees spread across the MENA region will stay warm, during the upcoming and harsh winter seasons.

So why don’t you head on over to UNHCR’s twitter page, @Refugees and simply retweet the campaign for a chance to help those in need and for your name to be knitted onto a scarf as a show of appreciation.