Knitting group gives back

A grassroots social enterprise is warming heads and hearts from its home on the Hibiscus Coast.

Make Give Live is a knitting movement founded by Arkles Bay resident Claire Conza. Stitching together the skills of community knitters with a charitable business model, the social enterprise gives one beanie to an elderly or homeless person in need for every beanie sold.

‘‘A good social enterprise should have the head of a business, the heart of a charity and the hands of a community,’’ Conza says.

Hoping to help some of the 50,000 over 65 Kiwis living in severe isolation, Make Give Live was inspired by Conza’s own journey. During onand-off struggles with depression, she discovered the therapeutic nature of knitting.

‘‘The pressures of life squashed that little voice telling me I need to be doing something creative to help people,’’ she says.

The first Make Give Live meeting was held in February after Conza put word out on local Facebook pages.

Since then, around a dozen Whangaparaoa regulars have gathered weekly at Two Spoons and The Link Cafe to knit together, producing over 300 beanies.

‘‘It felt like a crazy idea at first, but when you’re on the right path, doors just open.’’

Since its inception, the group has expanded to gatherings on the North Shore, Kingsland, Ponsonby, and possibly Kumeu and Birkenhead in the future.

‘‘I love how it effortlessly gets intergenerational interaction happening,’’ Conza says.

‘‘The elderly ladies have amazing skills and the younger ladies love to learn.’’

With beanies flying out the door, Conza says Make Give Live is only just keeping up with orders, but plans to keep expanding the enterprise.

In early August Conza won the first Idealog Cointreau Creative Kickstart Competition.

After delivering a three minute pitch on Make Give Live, Conza walked away with $1000 cash, an hour of mentorship and a profile in Idealog’s magazine and website.

With sponsorship from Barfoot & Thompson following the competition win, Conza’s plans to expand Make Give Live to a national or global level are off to a strong start.

Visit makegivelive.com for more.