Hearts & Hooks
Who are we, anyway?
Who are we, anyway?
Hearts & Hooks is a crochet initiative that offers comfort, encouragement, and handmade gifts to individuals recovering from addiction, experiencing homelessness, or battling with mental health challenges, combining neuroscience, creativity, and compassion as tools for healing.
What began as a hobby soon became a calling: using crochet not just for expression, but as a mindful, soothing practice that restores dignity and joy. As someone deeply passionate about addiction neuroscience and research, I often explore the silver lining between healing and creativity, inspired by the same systems I research.
My mission is to share crochet as more than a craft, but also as a tool for recovery. Through handmade gifts and science-rooted empathy, I offer a new kind of hook: one that doesn't break oneself, but rather mends and stitches up hearts with fabric.
The motivation of this initiative is based on the founder's faith in Jesus Christ and her commitment to serve with love and purpose.
Meet the Founder
Hi, I'm Ruby, a 16 year old girl in NY who loves to learn, crochet, and research. Some of my side hobbies are learning French, playing ukulele fingerstyle, as well as baking marshmallows (yes, you can make marshmallows at home!). I started this initiative, inspired by the Lord, after learning about and seeing first-hand the debilitating effects of addiction, aimed at bringing healing and support.
How I Use Crochet to Support Recovery
During my sophomore year of high school, I started immersing myself in the fascinating neuroscience of addiction. I wanted to grasp how the brain could fall so deeply into a self-reinforcing cycle, how drugs infiltrate the system, and the long term implications it has. This deeper search into the mechanism behind addiction also gave rise to an inherent compassion—a desire to help those trapped in the very cages I was scrutinizing meticulously, the people themselves. Rather than condemn their every move for a cycle not controlled by their own will, I wanted to understand them. Physiologically and humanely. I began seeing addiction as more than a physical or chemical issue, being also as a mental, emotional, and spiritual battle. Although my current research can help lead to a novel treatment for addiction recovery down the line, I wanted to do something to help those struggling right in front of me—not just their children's children.
Something about the label "handmade with love" sparks something in the minds of those who receive it, igniting the realization that the person behind it crafted it—precisely and passionately—with its perfect "imperfections" as a testifying mark of human creation. Crochet can serve as two roles for recovering individuals: a stress-relief outlet, and as a tangible form of encouragement. No matter how small or big the item, handmade donations evoke a psychological impact for recipients because of the fact that it takes time, money—and most importantly—love. Developing a sense of warmth through my hobby is what makes this initiative have an impact, because what many substance users face is not merely the aftermath of chemical processes—but also mental struggles, despondency, and isolation.