Hatfrica was founded by Jonathan Knowles in the fall of 2012 after a life changing trip he took to East Africa. Jonathan traveled to Africa to visit his brother who was living in Nairobi, Kenya and doing non-profit relief work with World Vision at the time.
While growing up, Jonathan was an avid baseball player, and naturally wore baseball caps whenever he could. To this day, he still wears baseball caps almost daily. During his visit to Africa, Jonathan discovered that the people he met there shared his affinity of hats...specifically baseball caps. Many of them asked to wear the hats he wore, to take pictures with them, and to even barter for them. Jonathan had an even better idea: Why not round up all of his spare hats from home and bring them back to give away??
This idea has grown even further. While speaking with a friend of his back home who worked at a sporting apparel company, Jonathan found out that perfectly good hats were being discarded every day by large companies and manufacturers due to small defects (stitching, typos, etc.). He then made it a goal to obtain these defective hats as well, in order to touch even more lives back in Africa.
Jonathan's hope is that Hatfrica can be financially self-sufficient by utilizing resources creatively. As such, this is a unique non-profit organization in that it does not ask for money. In fact, aside from donated hats, Hatfrica asks very little of its supporters. Learn more here.
Through Hatfrica and the support he raises, Jonathan is working hard to couple his love of hats with his compassion for the less fortunate men, women and children living in Africa. To many of us, a forgotten hat sitting in our closet isn't much. But but the joy it can bring to many others is incredibly priceless. That is Hatfrica's mission. Giving hats, getting smiles.
While growing up, Jonathan was an avid baseball player, and naturally wore baseball caps whenever he could. To this day, he still wears baseball caps almost daily. During his visit to Africa, Jonathan discovered that the people he met there shared his affinity of hats...specifically baseball caps. Many of them asked to wear the hats he wore, to take pictures with them, and to even barter for them. Jonathan had an even better idea: Why not round up all of his spare hats from home and bring them back to give away??
This idea has grown even further. While speaking with a friend of his back home who worked at a sporting apparel company, Jonathan found out that perfectly good hats were being discarded every day by large companies and manufacturers due to small defects (stitching, typos, etc.). He then made it a goal to obtain these defective hats as well, in order to touch even more lives back in Africa.
Jonathan's hope is that Hatfrica can be financially self-sufficient by utilizing resources creatively. As such, this is a unique non-profit organization in that it does not ask for money. In fact, aside from donated hats, Hatfrica asks very little of its supporters. Learn more here.
Through Hatfrica and the support he raises, Jonathan is working hard to couple his love of hats with his compassion for the less fortunate men, women and children living in Africa. To many of us, a forgotten hat sitting in our closet isn't much. But but the joy it can bring to many others is incredibly priceless. That is Hatfrica's mission. Giving hats, getting smiles.