Stitch after stitch: Blue Hill man makes difference for AIDS patients with crocheted scarves

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - On a gray Monday in Blue Hill, Nebraska Randall Kottwitz is sitting in his beige house doing what he normally does.

“My crocheting time is when I’m doing all that thinking,” Kottwitz said while seated at his work desk.

With every loop, yarnover and pull through he adds another stitch to a larger tapestry of helping others.

“I come from a family that has a long history of doing work for charity in one way or another or at least serving as officers in organizations in the community and serving the community,” Kottwitz said.

At the end of last year, Randy took boxes full of all of the scarves he’d crocheted, about 80 in total, and donated them to the Nebraska AIDS Project.

“I’m 67 years old. Many in my generation died of AIDS, I lost more friends than I can count. And so it is important to me that we serve that community. I mean, many of these patients are of my generation or not too long after my generation before we really learned what we needed to know. And it is an ongoing crisis in our community,” Kottwitz said. “You know, HIV is not over. And so it’s really important to keep up institutions like the Nebraska AIDS Project, and keep them testing and educating and doing all the things they do.”

Donations like Randy’s make a world of difference to those behind the nonprofit. Small normalcies can bring a sense of steadiness to those newly diagnosed with HIV.

“It’s important for us to be able to provide our clients with stability,” said Stacie Brueggerman with the Nebraska AIDS Project. “And so with that stability, you know, if we can help them provide food, housing, clothing, anything like that, we know that that really keeps them adherent to their care when it comes to HIV.”

For Randy the choice to donate to this cause just makes sense.

“We all need to do what we can to make this world better for others. And that can be different for every human being in terms of that particular thing,” Kottwitz said.

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