We were lucky to catch up with Kayla King recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kayla, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?
Six years ago one of my three sons was diagnosed with autism at age four. Five years ago we made the decision to get a service dog for him to help him better handle some struggles autism can bring. But service dogs are not cheap. It takes a lot of time, training and funds to get a service dog. My husband and I knew we wouldn’t be able to handle this big bill on our own. So we decided to do some fundraising.
We had several fundraisers going from people to choose from; a crowdfunding website, custom t-shirt sales and a couple of multi-family garage sales. We fully expected our fundraising efforts to take a year or more. But because of very generous people, even complete strangers, we had the full amount raised, several thousand dollars, in a little over six months.
The greatest impact was a woman who none of my family knew, show up to one of the garage sales. She looked around at the items for sale, bought nothing, but left a check written out for $1,000. I was astounded and brought to tears at this stranger’s generosity.
I didn’t know it at that time, but a few years later I’d have the opportunity to give back to another family who were walking in the same shoes we had been in.
We had met another family with a young son with autism who were fundraising to get their son a service dog. I knew we didn’t have the money to just write them a check so I dusted off my knitting skills and used my talent to make winter hats for people to buy with all proceeds going to this family. I didn’t know it would turn into something as spectacular as it did.
For months I took orders and knitted away. In the end I sold around 100 hats during this fundraiser and was able to hand deliver the proceeds to this family.
The take away: you never know what someone is going through and kindness costs nothing.
Kayla, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I started selling my knitted items as a way to help someone else. It grew from there and became something I love to do and something that brings peace and calm to my life, especially when there can be a lot of chaos.
Typical items I sell are winter hats/beanies, cowls, mittens, headbands and scarves. I have also loved knitting sweaters for myself the last couple of years.
What people don’t know is that I knit items in order to serve others. I love knowing my items help bring comfort and warmth to the people who wear them. Each item knit gets a prayer woven in to bless the person receiving it.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Building an audience on social media has been a work in progress for me. It seems like it has been very slow going. For anyone just starting to build their social media presence I’d say to keep at it and be consistent.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
The resources that have been the biggest impact on me in this journey have been other Makers and artists who do similar work to mine. They know what it takes and have been great role models, even if they don’t know it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Instagram.com/the.Knitty.king
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063769826639&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Other: Autism & Service Dog Blog: https://www.facebook.com/adventuresofcharlieandsunny?mibextid=LQQJ4d