S.A.C.K.
Stacy Wiener, Founder of S.A.C.K., discovered through volunteering at food pantries, that there was a lack of essential toiletries available. One key reason is that people cannot use government subsidies, such as food stamps, to purchase them. When it comes to deciding on whether to eat vs. buy soap and shampoo, the choice becomes obvious. So, S.A.CK. was created to help fill this need.
In September of 2017, S.A.C.K. (Supporting A Community with Kindness), was started as a grassroots effort to connect people from all over the world while crocheting/knitting soap sacks and then donating them (with a bar of soap in each one) to homeless shelters, food pantries, veteran clinics, relief efforts and social service agencies.
what are we crafting?
Item Requested | Craft Type | Quantity Requested | Quantity Still Needed |
|---|---|---|---|
Soap Sacks | Knit/Crochet/Sew | 2000 | 1109 |
project must-knows
Crafting Change loves to make soap sacks and distribute them to our partner charities throughout the country. Often times we meet their needs really quickly. S.A.C.K and Crafting Change both encourage our volunteers who love making soap sacks to always look within their local communities to see who may need them. S.A.C.K. has provided some wonderful resources for organizations that may be near you and interested in receiving your donation locally. Please check out these two great resources here. Keep in mind when donating locally, it is a good idea to include the soap with your soap sack.
Directory of Food Pantries: https://www.foodpantries.org/
Directory of Homeless Shelters: https://www.homelessshelterdirectory.org/
If you do not have anyone local to donate your soap sacks to, Stacy encourages you to look at our partner charities first and if their needs are met, you may ship them to S.A.C.K directly in NJ so Founder, Stacy Wiener can distribute them to organizations that have made requests directly to her. She is always happy to accept empty soap sacks and add soap to them prior to shipment! However, she gladly accepts soap too!
We have provide many patterns on our website developed by our Crochet Advisory Board member Melanie Shovelski as well as links to patterns provided by S.A.C.K. for both knit and crochet. We also have a few tutorials on our YouTube Channel. If you have any questions about making these, or need help in general with crochet, please stop by one of our Thursday Zoom Rooms. After the scheduled class, our room is open for all questions!
We also have a sewn pattern developed by Robyn Peters for S.A.C.K. and especially for our work with The Keep Girls In School Campaign.
While you are not required to attach the label to your soap sack, it is a nice gesture to do this as it saves the charity time. You will find a link to the soap sack labels in the pattern section.
Thank you for your interest in S.A.C.K. and your desire to help those in need with these amazing soap sacks!
soap sacks - knit/crochet
shipping guidelines
S.A.C.K. is happy to accept your shipments via USPS anytime you would like to mail them. Please ship to:
S.A.C.K
PO Box 33
Allenhurst, NJ 07711
If your box will cost you more than $20 to ship, S.A.C.K. is partnered with Give Back Box to get you a $20 UPS label from Give Back Box and ship up to 50 pounds and 108" in girth to S.A.C.K. here.
Due to a computer glitch, they send out the same label with the same tracking number to every person and you can't use it. After you receive your label, please immediately email Monika at info@givebackbox.com and ask for a "fresh" label with an unused tracking number. You will get a new label in 1-2 days. This is the label you should use.