Dear reader, this week I’d like to introduce you to a real life Soap Star. 🤩

Stacy Wiener is the founder of S.A.C.K. – Supporting A Community with Kindness. She was nominated by TWO of our Yarniverse members to be a Rising Star – and in the exact same month that I found out about her and her amazing mission, thanks to our mutual friend Jen!

On the face of it, what Stacy does may seem “small.”

But when you know the whole story, I think you’ll agree – it’s huge. Gigantic. In fact, I can’t imagine anything bigger.

It all started with a single, humble soap sack.

After retiring from 30 years as a college counselor, Stacy began volunteering at a local food pantry. She noticed that clients would often ask for toiletries like soap and shampoo. And after some investigating, she was surprised to find out that government subsidies can’t be used to purchase toiletries – only food.

“It was shocking to me,” Stacy said. “You can buy potato chips with food stamps. You can buy soda. But you can’t buy something that’s all about dignity.”

“You know how good it feels when you take a shower – you feel clean, you feel good about yourself. Being clean should not be a privilege. It’s a human right.”

Stacy began to buy and collect soap to give to her clients at the food pantry, but something was missing. “It just seemed so impersonal to hand someone a bar of soap,” she said.

So Stacy, a lifelong knitter and crocheter, went on YouTube and found a simple pattern for a “soap sack” which she tweaked a bit, adding a loop for hanging the soap so it could dry out and stay clean between showers.

“And when I gave those first ones out, you should have seen people’s faces – they were thrilled! They were like, can I have the purple one? Could I have that one?” she said. “I went back to my car and I thought, I think I might have something here.”

“I started recruiting a bunch of my knitting and crocheting friends. It was super local. Then I started going into the neighboring counties, talking to people, finding more food pantries, Veteran’s agencies, LGBTQ+ centers, social service agencies…”

“Then our local paper wrote an article, and it got picked up by USA Today,” Stacy said. “And I started getting emails from people all over the United States saying, can I do this in my community? And I realized I was at a crossroads.”

Students at the Allied Health and Sciences Center in Neptune, NJ donated so many soap sacks! What a great community service project idea.

Stacy and her husband decided to make it official – they trademarked their logo and started a 501c3 nonprofit.

“Today, we have volunteers in every state, plus Australia, Asia, Europe, all over. People send me sacks and soaps and we donate them wherever there is need – but more and more, we’re encouraging people to follow the same model in their own communities.”

“By our best count, we’ve donated more than 600,000 soap sacks – but in reality, it’s probably over a million,” she said.

A woman from Singapore donated 15,000 sacks to migrant workers. Another large box went to Roots Ethiopia (the same organization that Jonah’s Hands has helped and Knit Stars highlighted as our give-back for Season 8).

On her website, Stacy provides tons of free soap sack patterns – crocheted, knit and sewn. She also includes tag templates that can be printed and attached to the sacks, and lots of great tips in her FAQ section.

The sacks make excellent stash-busters. They take only a half-hour or so to make, and the only “rules” are that they be made in cotton or cotton-blend yarn and have a hanging loop. You can have fun personalizing them to reflect your personality or favorite cause.

“The need is so great, it can be overwhelming,” Stacy said. “When I partnered with Eco-Soap Bank, I gave them 500 soap sacks, and I apologized to their founder Samir Lakhani because they help hundreds of thousands of people and here I could only donate 500.”

“But he said something I’ll never forget. ‘Stacy, think about it – 500 people now have a clean place to store their soap.’”

“A small action can have a huge impact.”

Stacy, it’s my honor to know you and to name you our Rising Star of the month.

And dear reader, if you would like to help:

• Find patterns and instructions for donating soaps + sacks: https://www.soapsacks.com
• Donate monetarily to help with shipping and supplies: https://www.soapsacks.com/donate
• Spread the word! Stacy dreams of multiplying her impact with the help of a public figure such as Michelle Obama (and psssst if you happen to know the former first lady, I’d love to talk to her about being a future Knit Star – hook us up! 😎)

Remember, you have a superpower and how you use it makes a difference.

xoxo,

WOW we had a big time on the travel webinar yesterday! Thousands of people registered to hear me share my travel tips, horror stories and hard-won strategies for pain-free Yarnie travel.

Thank you to everyone who made it such a fun live event and congrats to the prize winners!

In case you missed it, we’ve made the replay available for just a few days here.

Stacy loves making crochet swing tops. “I’m a boho girl at heart!” she says.

Here she is in one of her recent makes, “Peasant Style Top” by Breann Mauldin of Hooked on Crochet Happiness. Isn’t she adorable???

Personally, I’ve gotten on a crochet kick lately too (I favorited a bunch of Breann’s designs over on Ravelry!) – and after a slow start, I’m flying along on the “Blair Ribbed Hem Crop Top” by For the Frills. There’s a handy, free tutorial to go along with it which I’m finding super helpful.

If you cast on either project, please post and tag us @knitstars so we can see!

Image and recipe from Food Network

Fig and Pepita Goat Cheese Log
By Katie Lee Biegel, host on The Kitchen (Food Network)

Stacy is so busy making, collecting, and distributing soap sacks, she doesn’t have much time to cook. So she shared what might be the easiest appetizer of all time. Throw one together for your next hangout, and enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup toasted, salted pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
• 1/4 cup fig jam
• One 10.5-ounce log goat cheese
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1. Place the goat cheese log on a cheese board, plate or platter.
2. Spoon the fig jam over the goat cheese, gently spreading it with the back of the spoon.
3. Sprinkle the pepitas over the fig jam to cost.
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.