In an attempt to spend less time on his phone, Austin Rivers taught himself how to knit.
“Getting started is the hardest part about knitting, once you’re in it, it’s pretty easy to just keep going,” said Rivers.
His hobby eventually grew into a non-profit, "Knit the Rainbow," where he collected handmade and new garments for LGBTQ+ homeless youth.
What You Need To Know
- A recent Gallup poll shows that 5.6% of Americans identify as LGBT. But research has shown that LGBT Youth comprise more than 20% of the homeless youth population
- Musical Theater Performer Austin Rivers found this imbalance troubling and decided to create a non-profit
- “Knit the Rainbow” was founded during the pandemic to provide brand new garments to Homeless LGBTQ+ youth
“I was finishing up my master’s degree and I was trying to decide what I was going to do with this degree in public administration. I came across some pretty staggering statistics about LBGTQ+ youth,” Rivers said.
According to a study by the University of Chicago, LGBT youth had a 120% higher risk of reporting homelessness, often stemming from a lack of acceptance at home.
“It can be dangerous to be an out LGBT person and, you know, living on the street. I couldn’t at the time and I can’t at the time create a shelter so what I could do was find some way to keep them warm,” Rivers said.
To date, nearly 4,000 garments have been donated. Every item is tagged with “love.” One of their donors provides them with hand-crocheted heart tags.
“I also met my boyfriend, a little pandemic love story, we started off as roommates and now here we are almost a year and a half later,” said Rivers.
His boyfriend, Marquez Linder, works as Knit the Rainbow’s graphics designer and social media manager.
“I’m also a resident folder and organizer and just all around volunteer honestly. Being a supportive boyfriend,” joked Linder.
Knit the Rainbow is also hoping to provide community outreach in the form of knitting classes.
“We want to interact with the youth and teach them these life-long skills that they can then make for themselves and also turn into careers and hobbies," Rivers said.
Wednesday’s donation drop off is at the Ali Forney Center, the nation’s largest organization dedicated to housing and caring for homeless LGBT young people.
"Our goal is to provide these homeless LGBTQ+ youth with love, giving them love, compassion and comfort and letting them know that there is someone out there in the world who is thinking about them. So Knit the Rainbow is love,” concluded Rivers.