Gifted Hands Crochet Project brings incarcerated creations to outside world

How people at CCWF are using their talents to help the surrounding community

The brightly colored yarn was so soft as she crocheted, her mind intently focused on her stitches. Handmade blankets, scarves, beanies, and other items are highly sought after and can be incredibly expensive, if the prices on Etsy are to be believed. But the pale pink, peach, and white blanket this woman was crocheting was not intended for a loved one or even for sale. In fact, it was going to be given away to someone she had never met… and the woman was ecstatic at the opportunity.

The woman is named Erica Olson and she is a member of the Gifted Hands Crochet Project at Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF). Olson has been a member of the project, along with its sister project — the Pillowcase Dress Project – for many years, spending countless hours making projects that are donated to the outside community.

“It’s truly a blessing to be a part of something where I can help someone in need,” Olson said.

Gifted Hands was started at CCWF in 2014 by Brandi Taliano, Maria Legarda-Renteria, and two other incarcerated individuals with the intent of allowing incarcerated participants to make items which are then donated to the community. For Gifted Hands specifically, items are donated to places such as homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, children’s hospitals and veteran’s hospitals. The individuals at CCWF partnered with Karen and Gary Bronson, members of the Arthur C. Hancock Memorial Foundation, (i.e., yarn, crochet hooks, knitting needles).

According to Taliano, there “was a lot of back and forth with the process” when Gifted Hands was proposed.

“There were about seven signatures needed before the proposal even got to the warden, and each one wanted something changed or needed clarification before they would approve it,” Taliano said. “It took months to get the next signature.”

Despite the slowness of the process, the founders persevered and the project was eventually approved.

Both Taliano and Legarda-Renteria have paroled from CCWF and now serve as Gifted Hands’ outside sponsors. According to Taliano, the process for them to take over from Karen and Gary Bronson was a long one.

Numerous organizations have benefitted from receiving the donated items from Gifted Hands. Places like the Chowchilla Police (PD) and Fire Departments (FD), the Little Angels Program, a program that helps parents when a baby dies, Ronald McDonald House, which helps ill children and Five Keys, an organization that helps unhoused people and individuals reenter society. Blankets made at CCWF have been sent all over the country in order to help those in need.

When asked about some specific instances, in which the blankets were used, Taliano said that Chowchilla PD and FD had blankets in the trunks of their vehicles in case they rolled up on an accident and a child was on scene. One former counselor at CCWF escorted a veteran to Washington D.C. and gifted him a blanket upon their arrival. That same counselor and his family passed out slices of pizza and a blanket to the unhoused population one Christmas morning. In August 2023, over 300 blankets were sent to Maui to help with the devastating wildfire that ravaged the island.

Another organization that has benefitted from Gifted Hands is the Asian Prisoner Support Coalition (APSC) which distributed over 250 beanies and 200 scarves in Wilma Chan Park in Oakland on Feb. 1, 2023. Legarda-Renteria, an APSC employee who was instrumental in the distribution, described the joy on recipients’ faces as “amazing.”

One of the intents of the project is to allow incarcerated individuals to make things for the greater community, which gives them a way to give back to those in need. Yarn and other supplies are donated to the outside sponsors who then donate it to CCWF. Participants then knit or crochet various items knowing that they will be donated back to the community. In that way, participants are able to live a life of living amends in order to honor those they have harmed. Sentiments like Olson’s are common amongst participants who actively donate their time and talents to benefit someone they’ve never met.

“We know they’re in need of something we can make. It’s a great opportunity to give, knowing we’re helping make someone’s life better,” Olson said.

“There are no words to describe the look on a child’s face or on the face of someone down on their luck,” Taliano said.

“There is a twinkle in their eyes that says they know they’re not forgotten. I remember giving a blanket to an unhoused gentleman and he said, ‘Thank you for not yelling at me.’ Another unhoused gentleman said, ‘Thank you for thinking of me as a human being.’ When we tell the recipients that the blanket we’re giving them was made just for them… their smile lights up the sky. It’s absolutely priceless,” Legarda-Renteria said.