About Us
KOGO is entirely run by a team of dedicated volunteers, with over 20,000 generous knitters across Australia.
We love that our knitted garments provide some physical warmth for recipients, but also give them an emotional boost because they know they have been hand-made with love by a community that cares. Our volunteers are everyday Australians who donate their time and wool in order to give a little warmth and comfort for those doing it tough. They come from all walks of life and they vary in age - the youngest so far being an 11 year old girl and our oldest being over 100!
The Inspiration
It was a particularly cold winter in Melbourne in 2004 and there was a sudden resurgence in the popularity of knitting scarves. During this time, Ros Rogers had the idea of getting her friends and family to direct their knitting energy towards knitting for charity (after all how many scarves can one person wear?). This resulted in 180 scarves being knitted which were then distributed by the Emerald Hill Mission to those experiencing homelessness.
The following year Ros officially launched Knit One Give One (KOGO) as a not-for-profit organisation. Ros and her team of volunteer knitters then decided to knit scarves and beanies for disadvantaged children and these items were distributed to schools supported by the Ardoch Youth Foundation. Publicity in the local press led to an overwhelming response and before we knew it, KOGO had grown to have over 200 volunteer knitters and more than 2,000 finished items, now expanded to include clothing for babies and children, blankets and toys.
Recognising a widespread need for winter woollies for people undergoing hardship KOGO decided to team up with a number of community partner organisations to distribute the donated knitted items.
KOGO has continued to grow exponentially and developed into the major charity it is today. Each year, KOGO distributes over 100,000 items to the most vulnerable people in our community.
Our Mission Statement
KOGO enhances social inclusion through volunteering and providing hand knitted items of warmth and comfort to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our community.
Community Partners
We supply our items to over 400 Community Partner Organisations.
The most efficient way to distribute our knitted items is through community partner organisations throughout Australia. They are all registered not-for-profit organisations that work with a range of people undergoing hardship.
We supply our items to over 400 Community partner organisations. These are Public Benevolent Institutions, charities and government agencies and fall into the following broad categories:
Crisis accommodation
Emergency relief
Family support services
Government funded community support
Homelessness services
Hospital social work and mental health services
Organisations dealing with children at risk
Refugees
Refuges from domestic violence
Remote indigenous communities
Primary Schools
Kindergartens
Playgroups
Children in out-of-home care
All of our Community Partner Organisations must have PBI DGR1 status and are committed to distributing items directly to recipients. No KOGO items are to be sold.
Our Board
Ros Rogers OAM - Founder
As the founder and ‘brain-child’ behind KOGO, Ros has always been involved in caring for the community through her voluntary work with various organisations.
Ros qualified as a pharmacist in 1974 and after the birth of her 3 children, she decided to become a full time Mum.
Ros learnt to knit as an eight-year-old and has loved it ever since. In 2004, prompted by a very cold winter, Ros decided to combine her passion for knitting with her love of helping people. She started KOGO in order to distribute warm winter hand knits to people in need.
Ros was awarded an OAM (Medal of the Order of Australia, General Division) in the 2017 Australia Day Awards for service to youth and to charitable organisations and Founder and Coordinator of KOGO.
Vicki Davis
Vicki joined KOGO in 2012 as a volunteer, in charge of distribution.
She graduated from William Angliss in 1987, with a Diploma of Catering and Hotel operations, and had a successful catering business for five years. For 17 years, Vicki ran Vicki’s Bickies, specialising in gingerbread manufacturing and cake decorating where she mainly employed Sudanese refugees. Vicki was recognised for inclusivity with a Multi-Cultural award for excellence in 2009.
Vicki began a career in volunteering in 2012 in a variety of not-for-profits. KOGO, PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia), and CPS (Children’s Protection Society) were her main areas of interest and cemented her care for society’s most vulnerable.
Being a passionate knitter and a lover of all things colourful and crafty, KOGO was an ideal match. Vicki’s organisational skills and counselling training, from her eight years at PANDA, have helped prepare her to take on the role of new CEO of KOGO in 2021.
Vicki is married and has two adult sons.
Brett Lethborg
Brett has over 20 years’ experience as a Chartered Accountant specialising in business advisory and taxation matters. Brett is a Principal at Daniel Allison & Associates, a South Melbourne based boutique accounting and legal practice where he advises many of Melbourne’s prominent families on their business and philanthropic interests.
His financial acumen has helped KOGO remain a sustainable not-for-profit organisation and build a structure to ensure they are able to continue to run long into the future.
Brett is also kept busy chasing his 2 young boys around and training for marathons!
Vivien Lewenberg
Vivien is a founding Partner of Lawsmith Legal and Student of Nursing at Australian Catholic University.
Qualified with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Economics (Accounting) from Monash University and a Master of Law from the University of Cambridge, Vivien has nearly 30 years experience practising Commercial Law and Litigation at a number of Melbourne firms.
She now divides her time between family life, working as a lawyer and pursuing her next career dream of becoming a nurse.
Genia Janover
Genia Janover, who served as principal of Bialik College for 20 years, and prior to that as Vice-Principal of Leibler-Yavneh College, has enjoyed a stellar career in Jewish education over more than four decades.
After retiring from Bialik College towards the end of 2008, Genia was appointed to the boards of several leading schools, at the same time serving as an educational consultant, and as a senior staff member of Independent Schools of Victoria. State-of-the art facilities and cutting-edge educational programs marked her principalship at Bialik College, while enrolments grew exponentially, from about 380 students to almost 1100 students. Genia has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, among them the Commonwealth award for Excellence in a Principal and the Max Fisher Prize – an international accolade – for her contribution to Jewish education. She has been named as one of Australia's top ten educators and listed among the country's 100 most influential women.
Born in Australia, Genia is the daughter of Holocaust survivors. She is married to Myer. They have twin sons and four grandsons.
“All of us at Winter Warmer Hampers would like to send Kogo our heartfelt thanks for all the wonderful scarves, beanies and rugs that you provided for our hampers this year. Our Hampers have been delivered to 107 families (400 people) and your wonderful donations have made it possible to keep a lot of people warm in this cold Winter. We are constantly amazed at how you are able to fill our orders in so well and often with such short notice. Many, many thanks.”
