- So you may not know this, I didn't,
but LGBTQ+ young people
are eight times more likely to be homeless
than their non-LGBTQ+ counterparts.
Well, my next guest has combined
his compassion for these kids,
with his passion for knitting,
and in less than two years,
he's been able to pass out
thousands and thousands of clothes
to queer and trans homeless youth across New York city.
It's amazing. That makes him a really rad human.
(audience cheering)
(upbeat music)
All right from Knit The Rainbow,
let's welcome Austin Rivers. (audience cheering)
So meet Josh. - Hi, Josh.
- Absolutely honored to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Also, you have a name straight up out of a novel.
- Thank you. - Austin Rivers?
- It's regal sounding, a little magical.
- It sounds like "The Love Interest."
(Austin laughs) I'm into it.
So this all started with your love of knitting, right?
- It did, yes.
I learned how to knit about four years ago.
I was singing in an international tour in Japan
and I learned how to knit there,
and I just fell in love with it.
So I was knitting mostly for myself.
I was knitting for some friends,
for Christmas gifts and presents,
and then the pandemic hit and it's in 2020.
And I had to do something to help someone.
And as a black gay person living in New York city,
I know that there's a housing disparity
that's being faced among our LGBTQ+ youth
in New York city and around the nation.
So I didn't have the resources
and the connections to make a shelter,
but what I could do was take my passion for knitting
and craft.
So I started working
and crafted as many garments as I could,
to distribute to the youth.
- Oh my gosh, do you craft?
Do you do any crafting. (audience clapping)
- No. I don't do anything like that.
And I actually feel like I'm worthless right now.
(laughing) Listening to all of this.
I should have picked up something and helped others
in the same way.
That is incredible. It's truly unbelievable.
- And it's smart.
I think we all feel like we have to do something
in such a big way for certain things,
but your way is a big way
'cause it's something you excel at
and it's your gift, right?
So this whole thing blew up pretty quickly, right?
- It did, much quicker than I thought it was going to
when I first started it.
It was just me initially.
And then it spread around to my friends and my peers
who heard about what I was doing and wanted to help out.
And then from the word of mouth
and the power of social media,
now we have hundreds of volunteers across the nation
and we have volunteers in over 27 states
and in three different countries
who are sending us scarves and beanies and socks
and cardigans and sweaters,
and really anything that you can hand-make
they're sending us. - [Interviewer] Wow.
- So it's super exciting and they're doing a great job
at keeping the garments that were going flowing.
And they're sending us stuff daily.
Two to four boxes I'm getting a day
in my apartment in New York city.
- It's also cool that you give people an avenue
for them wanting to do something,
but not maybe knowing what to do.
- Yes, exactly. Craftivism is a huge thing.
And folks who are -- - Craftivism?
Yes. - I like it.
- It's a term that was coined a couple of years ago.
It's folks who are interested in crafting
and wanting to find a way to help folks with crafting.
So we're doing that.
We're growing and growing every day.
In our first year we collected a little over 4,000 garments.
- [Interviewer] Wow. - Wow.
- It was super exciting, much more than I thought
I was gonna do by myself, obviously.
And I can remember our first drop-off day,
we partnered with the Ali Forney Center,
which is the largest organization
dedicated to houseless at risk LGBTQ+ youth in the nation.
We made other partnerships, continued to grow and grow,
and just taking as many garments as we can
and serving these youth.
- Yeah, absolutely.
Well, we have someone in our audience
who knows firsthand just how valuable Knit The Rainbow is.
So let's say hi to Andy everybody.
(clapping)
(audience cheering)
So hi, Andy. - Hi.
- So can you tell us about your experience
with Knit The Rainbow?
- Hi Kelly. Hi Austin too.
So my husband and I recently moved to New York city.
He is a bisexual cis man,
and I am a trans non-binary person
and it was a really positive change.
We were coming from less accepting environments in Florida,
but we could not find secure housing.
So there were a few months
where we were either on friend's couches
or less desirable living circumstances.
And it was really rough.
We finally got an apartment, it's wonderful.
And we had no winter clothing,
could not afford a winter clothing.
I went to a trans event
that was actually pictured in one of the images you showed.
And there was a table
that was just covered in hundreds of knitted garments.
And I had no idea what they were doing there.
The announcer said, "These are actually for anybody
who does not have enough things to stay warm."
And I kind of hid in the back of the room thinking,
"I don't deserve this from a stranger."
And then I finally convinced myself
to take these knitted things.
And I was just so astonished
that anybody would do this for a stranger,
but especially the stranger who was really me.
As a queer person, I'm often in situations
where I think, "Well, I'll take this resource,
but it's not really for me."
And being somewhere where I knew this was explicitly for me
because I am queer, because I am trans,
I really wish I could explain to you
how transformative of an experience that was for me.
So thank you so much for what you're doing.
- [Interviewer] Wow. (audience applauding)
- Thank you. - Thanks.
- [Austin] Thanks, Andy. (audience clapping)
- So, where do you see Knit The Rainbow growing from here?
What are your big goals?
- That is a great question, Kelly.
(laughing)
I think the end goal would be to go national.
That's my hope.
And I would love to have hubs of Knit The Rainbow.
- Unfortunately, there homeless situations
like that happening. - There are.
And they're everywhere in all of these cities
that have really cold winter.
So I would hope to expand and have hubs
in places like Chicago and Boston and Philly.
Anywhere where it's cold and there are groups of homeless
and at risk LGBTQ+ youth that we can help out.
So that's kind of an end goal that we have.
We're actually making some progress on that goal.
We can announce today that we have made a new partnership
with the Rent 25th Anniversary Farewell Tour.
- Oh, what a great partnership.
(audience cheering) Wow.
- And it's really amazing.
Their story is really about houseless LGBT folks
in New York city. - That's perfect.
- So really I can not imagine a better partnership.
And they're helping us to make connections
and serve youth across the nation
through their 60 plus markets that they're in.
So that's super exciting.
The more recent goal that I have
is to hopefully get an office space.
Right now we're operating out of my apartment
in New York city.
So we'd love to get an office
so that we can expand our storage capacity
because we're getting boxes daily,
so that we can hire some staff and have more programs
and offer more services to these youth.
And then also offer a space that crafters can come in
and craft and interact with the youth that we serve.
They can learn how to knit and crochet for themselves
and just make it this little
Knit The Rainbow crafting family.
So that's kind of our more immediate goal.
- It's a great name,
Knit The Rainbow. - Thank you.
Our shorthand is KTR.
And if you know in knitting and crafting,
there's usually a shorthand
for all of the terms that we use.
So we have a little short term that's KTR
and it fits kind of the fiber arts theme.
So that's our short term goal is just getting an office
and the more people that we can bring in,
the more bigger spaces that we can get,
the more youth that we can serve
and keep warm in the winter.
- Oh my gosh. (audience applauding)
It's amazing what you're doing.
Austin's big dreams for Knit The Rainbow, KTR
and we went to see them come true.
So we're gonna give him $5,000 just to help out.
(audience cheering)
- Bet. More happiness.
- Let's hug. (audience cheering)
- Thank you so much. (audience cheering)
- I felt us both wanting to lean in.