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About Us


afghans for Afghans operates through the generosity of many:

Ann Rubin, Founder

Ann's nonprofit management and new media experience includes marketing, business planning, and development at organizations such as the Jewish Museum San Francisco, California Lawyers for the Arts, craft.com, and the National Museum of American Art. While at Salon.com, Ann had a ball running the Table Talk community service. Ann co-founded MuseumShop.com and has an MBA from the Haas School at the University of California at Berkeley. As a high school exchange student in Hamburg, Ann's host family patiently taught her the Continental method of knitting. She crochets, too. In 1999, Ann visited Pakistan's NWFP and Peshawar, where many Afghans live and sell their exquisite textiles. A highlight of the trip was traveling to the top of the Khyber Pass and playing with the Afghan kids trading money.

Ann is the recipient of XRX's Knitter of the Year Award in 2006 and the Bay Area Jefferson Award for Public Service in 2007.

Marcy Lyon, Web Maven

By day, Marcy works for the U.S. Department of Labor as a workers compensation claims examiner. At night, she continues creating Web sites. For many years, Marcy was the webmaster at the Pacific Exchange. She is also an attorney, a photographer, and the mother of Sam (which is better than being Son of Sam), but that's not how she would introduce herself if she called into a radio talk show. Marcy's many years spent earning her BA in fine arts at UCLA really do outweigh the value of her time spent in law school. Marcy is the person behind Vacuum Kitty Productions.

Zainub Ashraf

Born and raised in Ohio, Zainub spent eight years in her family's native Pakistan where she developed her interest in International affairs. After graduating with a degree in international relations, Zainub worked in television production and Internet marketing in New York City and San Francisco. She is currently applying to graduate business school and in her spare time enjoys travel, music, and volunteering. Zainub's parents honeymooned in Kabul in 1968.

March 6, 2002. We are most saddened by the passing of our friend and colleague, Zainub Ashraf. The afghans for Afghans project is an expression of Zainub's dedication, creativity, intelligence, and compassion -- and her desire to encourage cross-cultural understanding after 9/11. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Zainub's many friends and family members. May her memory be a blessing.

Interested in joining the team? Please contact us for information about volunteer opportunities in PR and Web design.

afghans for Afghans thanks many individuals and organizations who have generously provided resources, advice, leadership, and encouragement:

Tom Goehner, Textile Museum (formerly with American Red Cross Museum)
Stephen McNeil, American Friends Service Committee, San Francisco, assistant director
Nejabat and Marvin, Church World Service , Pakistan/Afghanistan
Rahima Haya, Afghan Widows' Project, director
Marsha MacColl, Afghans 4 Tomorrow
Alex and Deborah Nikifortchuk, YarnMarket.com, yarn e-tailer
Ann Cannon-Brown, elann.com, yarn e-tailer
Elizabeth Durand and Teresa Ruano, afghans for Afghans Knit-and-Crochet A-Long, hosts
Maryanne Havryluck, Airline Ambassadors
Luke Powell, photographer
Patrica Silbermann, Aschiana
Judith Mencher, Kaspareks' Art Stamps for Knitters
J. Alexander Thier, former officer at United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan in Kabul
Linda Niemeyer, Blue Sky Alpacas
Rosemary Hill, illustrator and jewelry maker, and designer of our In-VEST for Peace art
Heidi Kuhn, Roots of Peace , San Rafael, CA, and Kabul
Vanna White, crochet designer and television star
Elizabeth Cittar, author of Afghan Socks for Children pattern
Inga Hege, Web site guru in Munich, Germany!
Shelley Firth, graphic designer on our launch team
Susan Wills, Mew Mew's Yarn Shop and designer of Friday Mosque at Herat Sweater-Jacket for Children and In-VEST for Peace patterns
Marilyn King, Black Water Abbey Yarns and author of our Afghan Vest for Men pattern
Darlene Hayes, Hand Jive Knits and author of our Afghan Tulip Sock pattern
Judy Sours, Ferncrest Farm Yarns and author of our Afghan Mitten pattern
Charles Chen, graphic designer
Donna Druchunas, knitwear designer and author of our Afghan Rug pattern
Patti Pierce Stone, P2 Designs, graphic designer and knitwear designer
Berit and David, Afghan Mobile Mini Circus for Children, Kabul
Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne, Mason-Dixon Knitting
Benjamin Levisay and Auntie Gail, In Memoriam,XRX, Stitches, and Knit U
Rosemary Stasek, In Memoriam, A Little Help
Mike Whipple and Jean Arnott, International Orphan Care
Kristin Bradley, graphic designer and designer of our Afghan-theme postcards
Coleen Ragsdale, World Concern Supply Service
Rene and Allison, list moms for Ravelry's friends of afghans for Afghans group
Suraya Sadeed and Darrin Yoder, Help the Afghan Children, Kabul
Elsie DeLaere and Marianne O'Grady, School is Open

Thanks from the Afghan Embassy

Please enjoy this letter of acknowledgment from the Afghan Embassy.

Thanks from the kids in Afghanistan!

Please enjoy this adorable photo from Kabul!

Help support afghans for Afghans

Your support is needed to sustain this project. While operating expenses are low, office and outreach expenses add up over time. Any amount will be appreciated. Checks made to the "Peace Development Fund" are tax deductible. Or, for convenience, make a donation online through the Peace Development Funds's secure donation page. Although we do not have our own tax-exempt status, the IRS allows our donors to make charitable contributions through our fiscal sponsor, the Peace Development Fund. As such, their name, not ours, will appear on your bank or credit card statement.

Purchase our postcard featuring school girls receiving our wool socks!
To send to your fiber friends!

 

In-VEST for Peace Art

Click here to find out how to make a contribution
and receive your In-VEST for Peace Tote Bag gift.


Original In-VEST for Peace art by Rosemary Hill
© 2006 afghans for Afghans
All rights reserved

 

Stitches West

XRX CEO Benjamin Levisay presents
Ann Rubin as Knitter of the Year at Stitches West,
Santa Clara, CA, February 24, 2007


Judith Mencher and Ann Rubin celebrating our
10 years at the annual Jefferson Awards event
in San Francisco, January 2012


marcy

Founding webmaven Marcy Lyon and
founder Ann Rubin still going strong after 10 years

Gula

stephen

AFSC's Stephen McNeil finally doing honest work


Inga Hege is our website guru in Munich!

 

Volunteers

AFSC's Paula Stinson, Afghan Widows Project's
Rahima Haya, and Ann Rubin


Volunteers

AFSC's Stephen McNeil and Ann Rubin

 

 

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