Woman knits 5,000 hats for Hopkins nonprofit from thousands of miles away

HOPKINS, Minn. — A local non-profit that aims to make sure children have warm heads and hands is getting help from a knitter in one of the most tropical places.

Inside the headquarters of Hats and Mittens in Hopkins, volunteers sort donations of new and gently used winter gear for tens of thousands of metro area babies, children & teens in need.

"It's like opening a bag of skittles or something when we get it," said Rebecca Jorgenson Sundquist, founder of Hats and Mittens.

Every few weeks, a box of knit hats comes from a woman living nearly 4,000 miles away in Honolulu, Hawaii.

"It's pure joy for me. That's all it is. Pure joy," knitter Sandy Williamson said.

It's a new joy she found following years of struggle. 

"The reason I started knitting, I made 65. And that is a number I never thought I would reach," Williamson said.

Williamson has a rare disease that causes her to have a dangerously low white blood cell count. 

To mark the milestone birthday, she bought a hand loom.

"I sat and watched YouTube videos until I mastered it," laughed Williamson.

The Wisconsin native planned to use the yarn to string together a year of giving back. Her sister helped her find a need at Hats and Mittens.

"I mailed my very first box, 10 hats," Williamson said.

"Shortly after Sandy started knitting for us, she said, 'I'm going to set a goal of knitting 5,000 hats for you.' I thought that is amazing," said Jorgenson Sundquist.

"Probably over eight years, there's not been half a dozen days that I have not made hats," Williamson said.

As her count grew, Sandy's efforts were featured in the children's book "Warmer with Hats and Mittens" based on the non-profit organization.

"Her goodness has generated so much more goodness around her. Her neighbors help collect coupons for yarn or will contribute money to make that possible. She takes it to the post office. Everyone who works in the post office knows Sandy and they want to know what's the count. What are you up to?" explained Jorgenson Sundquist.

"When I walked in there and I said 5,000 everybody was cheering because they have been on this journey with me," Williamson said.

Williamson isn't done knitting yet. She wants to continue making hats as long as she can.

"I am very afraid for me not to do this. I feel that when it stops, I'm going to stop," she said.

So far this season, Hats and Mittens has given out over 26,000 sets of hats & mittens to about 260 organizations.

The majority are schools and social service agencies.