“I’m truly honored,” said Karras. “I’m so grateful to be a part of Village of Merici and grateful to everyone in the Cincinnati community. I can’t believe how this project turned into something like this. What a very humbling experience.”
Karras personally matched $100,000 in donations and hat orders to get The Cincy Hat initiative started. Through online sales and three community events hosted by Karras, over 22,000 hats have been sold to date, with new designs introduced as well as T-shirts, polos, visors and onesies. Karras then matched an additional $120,000 in donations and orders during Giving Tuesday 2023.
Among Karras’ goals is for the revenue generated from the hats to help Village of Merici serve more adults with developmental disabilities through direct services and independent housing opportunities. In the past 12 months, Village of Merici has expanded the number of adults it supports by 60 percent.
“The financial support The Cincy Hat project has provided Village of Merici is incredible,” said Colleen Renie, Village of Merici Executive Director. “This project has become 10 times larger than any other fundraiser we have throughout the year. It’s given us the ability to think bigger and reach more adults in need. We have a large waitlist of adults in need of services, and we’ve been able to hire more coaches and serve more people with this new income stream.”
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