What is ‘scarf bombing’ and Why you should be doing it.

Ten years ago, the statues in Ottawa, Canada started wearing colorful scarves. Fashionable yes, but quit the mystery…until you looked closer and read the tag that read:

“I am not lost! If you are stuck out in the cold, take this scarf to keep warm.” Turns out, a few University students had put them out.

After a photo appeared on social media, the movement went viral. Now known as ‘scarf bombing’ the act of leaving scarves out in public places during the cold winter months has spread around the country and into the US as well. You’ll spot them tied around railings, benches, fences, and the odd statue.

One enterprising soul, Michelle Chance-Sangthong, started a Facebook group called Scarf Bomb Jax and wrote: “Most of us are doing it because that one person did.” They now have hundreds of volunteers ranging in age from teens to people in their 80s.

In colder climes, people are leaving out hats, gloves, jackets and blankets. In Pittsburgh, Suzanne Volpe created a Facebook group with the natty name Scarf Bombardiers, which has more than 1,700 members. The Bombardiers regularly crochet scarves for strangers and leave them in areas where the homeless congregate. The tag read simply: Cold? Take this.”

And as Volpe says the scarfs not only keep people warm but remind them that “somebody cares about them.”