‘We spend a lot of time laughing’
Homeless Hats Project was created to bring meaning to the virtual void. When the Dharma Bum Temple closed its physical space in March 2020, the University Heights-based American Buddhist temple was able to hold many of its meditation offerings, classes and support programs online.
The temple’s in-person community efforts — including its prison-outreach program and the serviceoriented Dharma Bum Life program — were another story. When the temple closed, those programs were postponed indefinitely.
But the spirit of the Dharma Bum Temple could not live on screens alone.
In January, temple cofounder Jeffrey Zlotnik led a brainstorming session for ideas on COVID-conscious outreach programs. Aletha Thomson, a former medical and psychiatric social worker with Palomar Hospital in Escondido, had an idea.
Thomson remembered the plastic loom she used to make simple knitted beanie hats for some of her unsheltered emergency-room patients, and she thought maybe knitting hats would be good pandemic project. She was right.
“It’s wonderful because we can do it at home safely on our own time, and we can put in as much effort and time as we have available,” Thomson said from her home in Poway. “I thought it would be a great way to do virtual volunteering.”
In March, the first “Knit and Sit” meeting of the Homeless Hats Project was called to order on Zoom. The members have been cranking out hats — sometimes with accompanying scarves — ever since.
“What really stands out to me is that this project got off the ground from a brainstorming session,” Zlotnik said. “It became something created from nothing. It was just an idea, and during the time of the pandemic, it became something people feel good doing.”
During its first few months, the Homeless Hats group met online every Sunday afternoon. When the temple began offering in-person activities again, the first Sunday of the month became a hybrid meeting, with some members gathering in person at the temple and others popping in on Zoom.
Regardless of where the knitters are, the schedule remains the same. Meditate first. Knit second. Smile always.
“We spend a lot of time laughing. We do a five-minute meditation, and then there is a lot of, ‘How do you do this? How do you do that?’ And when someone new shows up, we try to get them started on the loom. A kindergartener can do it on a loom,” Thomson’s sisterin-law, Jean Anderson, said from her home in Scripps Ranch.
“We just started distributing them a few weeks ago, and it was so exciting. To pair the homeless hat with the person who could really use that hat, there is a special joy in that.”
In the last year, the knitters have perfected their creative process. They learned that many of their wearers prefer subdued colors over anything too eye-catching, that wool/ acrylic blend yarns are durable and easy to work with, and that child-sized hats are needed, too. (There may also be pet sweaters in their future.)
Over these last few chilly weeks, members of the Buddhist Temple of San Diego, Father Joe’s Villages, the San Diego River Park Foundation and Jewish Family Service of San Diego have distributed the Dharma Bum Temple’s hats to unsheltered people throughout the county. More than 300 hats have been given out so far, with 90 hats going out on one Sunday alone.
Less than one year ago, the Homeless Hats Project didn’t exist. Now, it is a source of community, friendship, laughter, and multiple layers of physical and emotional warmth. It looks like a triumph, but for the knitters behind the hats, it is just a glorious beginning.
Which is even better. “I plan on doing this until my hands fall off,” said Lauren DuBois of University Heights, who had never knitted before joining the Homeless Hats Project.
“In this group, we are all working for the same thing, and that is a more compassionate and kind community and world. These hats are just a small part of it.”
For more information on the Dharma Bum Temple’s Homeless Hats Project, including the project’s Amazon Wishlist, go to