Pass Christian Children

[Ro]

UPDATE>>>>> 5/10/06 We have reached 50 blankets!!!! Thanks so much everybody! Since I can't really handle packing up and shipping many more than that right now, I'm going to close signing up for this drive. I will continue posting in this thread though to update everybody and show pictures...etc!!! THANK YOU to everybody who is donating and please be sure to put a return address on your packages when you send them to me so I can send you a thank you note

 

big hugs and thanks again!!!

Ro

 

---------------------------

original post below

 

Hi all,

 

While I've been away from c'ville, my daughter and I have been working some with a great charity called Family to Family. My daughter wanted to find a way to donate some of her much beloved My Little Pony collection to kids who lost all their toys in Katrina. Family to Family heard our request for help, and immediately we were matched up with the day care center that is still in Pass Christian, MS. They were, by last report, still operating out of a tent. They have almost fifty children in their care.

 

The kids are mostly smaller, between the ages of infant and five, but there are a handful of kids who are six and one seven year old. After reading this article, I realized once again how much these kids need comfort objects.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/04/25/katrina.schildren.ap/index.html

 

Therefore, I am putting out the word, if anyone would like to make a small comfort blanket to go to the Children's Center of Pass Christian, please let me know. I have been trying to get some done and my health testing has been long and ongoing and I can't do it alone. I am talking about small, travel sized cuddle blankets, the happier, squishier, cheerier and more colorful, the better. Only acrylic or 100% cotton yarn to prevent allergies, and not full size (I'm thinking 24"X26" would be perfect for the smaller kids, 34X36 for the larger kids) The idea isn't something for them to keep warm with, it's something to provide comfort that they very sorely need. There are approximately 50 children at the center right now but I am sure that they must have siblings, and so I am hoping to get as many little blankets as possible. Since I am working off of a list of names and ages (no gender) I will assign each person a blanket size/and either boy, girl, or gender neutral colorscheme to work with so I can keep track and try to make sure the distribution is as even as possible.

 

As these people are literally working daily in the most makeshift surroundings as they try to care for these children, I can't promise that there will be follow up pictures of the kids with the blankets or anything, but I can tell you that I know they'll be appreciated. We got a postcard back from a mom of a 2 year old that got one of my daughter's ponies, and they were so grateful.

 

If this is something that speaks to you, please drop me an email (you can mail me through the forum or the link on my website) and I will be happy to send you guidelines for size and yarn and an address to mail them to. Blankets should be washed before sending in unscented detergent with no fabric softener.

 

When they get to me, I will re-pack and ship them to the daycare center contact in Pass Christian.

 

Thanks to anybody who can help out. I'm putting the word out not just here but to all my crafting buddies. This is something that could do a lot of good. Please help if you can.

 

thanks

Ro

 

p.s. Mods, if this belongs in comfortghans, I apologize, and I trust you'll move it there if that's the case LOL.

[Stacy25]

I PM'ed you. Does Family to Family have a website? I recently went through my daughter's stuffy collection and there are 3 garbage bags full of them. I've been looking for a place to donate, besides the usual Goodwill.

[Ro]

Hi Stacy! Thanks for your PM, I sent one back!

 

Family to Family usually only donates new items, the pony thing was an unusual event for them, (can send more info if you want, just pm me again! they have a website it's http://www.family-to-family.org/

 

I'm so excited, responses coming in already! My daughter is overjoyed !!! You guys rock!

 

hugs

Ro

[mythunderbird]

ROOOOOOOOOOO,your back wooohooo, hi sweetie, missed ya , hope your feeling a tad better. i can make a small blanket for a child. you want iit 24x24, or ??? bright colors i imgain, and what about stuffed animals, our local good will store has brand new stuffed toys that have been donated and they are pretty reasonable, same with the dollar tree, there they are only a dollar, and i would love to send a few to these children, send me your addy hon and i will get these off to you as soon as possible, might take me a bit cause i messed up my hip, darn kittys LOL, sweetie am so glad your back, have missed you alot, i will pm you with my yahoo messenger info since they took the chat off hugs sweetie

[Ro]

Hi girlie!!! thanks for the welcome, it's great to be back!!! I missed you guys esp. here in the charity forum! I'll post a general update soon as a howdy to everybody with the latest stuff about me/doctors/etc LOL.

 

I'm very appreciative of the offer of stuffed toys, it's so thoughtful of you to want to buy some! But I'm gonna try to keep this to blankies cause I worry so much about safety/allergy issues with stuffies and such (I'm a worrier, I inherited it from my mother )...I hope you can understand! I'll put you down for a 24X26 in bright colors...can you make it boy colors??? That would be wonderful if you can do that! I'll be having everybody send them to my PO box, when your blanket is done just PM me that you're ready to send and I will send you the addy straight away!

 

Big hugs, and I'm so happy, we've already got almost 10 blankies pledged!!! Thanks guys, you rule! Off to sleep now, will keep you all posted on this as it develops!!! I can't wait to tell my kiddo in the morning she's gonna be so happy too.

 

xoxo

Ro

[angelfire]

wonderful idea

[Charlene]

I don't mean to discourage you but why don't you contact Project Linus, they are set up for just such needs. Contact ther national headquarters and they can put you in contact with the local chapter down there, they can put out a national appeal , area coordinators can start sending right away, they all keep items on hand. Charlene

[Stacy25]

OH, I can definitely see what you mean about the allergies. No problem.

[minwifeof4boys]

Sent you a PM!

[Ro]

Hi Charlene! I don't believe we've met, I was on hiatus from C'ville for awhile, it's nice to meet you

 

I have been doing blanket drives, hat drives, toy drives, book drives...etc with friends for almost five years now, many different causes...so to those around C'ville who don't know me yet, please don't worry, I know what I'm doing and how to get it done! You can see info on some things I've worked on at my older website: www.psf.homestead.com and read about more recent things at www.onesmallthing.org .

 

Since I consider this a small scale project compared to others I've done in the past I thought that some of my friends might want to contribute, it keeps it simple and personal that way, and I get get such joy from working with people I know on these projects instead of turning to a larger org. like Linus...they do amazing, amazing workon a huge scale and I applaud anybody who works with them!!! !

 

So far 10 people are signed up to make blankies 15 blankies!...and I set up a webpage! www.onesmallthing.org/blankiesippi.html Hope this makes sense running out the door and organizing the list at the same time, if you PM me and don't hear back in the next couple hours I will get back to all of you by tonight! Thanks again everybody! I'll be sure to take pictures when we pack them up so everyone can see.

 

xoxo

Ro

[Lady_of_Roses]

This is probably going to sound like a stupid question -- I've never participated in this sort of thing before, and I am considering it -- but wouldn't it make more sense for each donator to ship directly to the location, instead of to you where you repack it all and ship it as one box? Seems like double the shipping cost?

[Ro]

Hi Lady of Roses! Thank you for considering the project and also for the VERY good question!!!

 

As often as i have been able with drives in the past, I always, always, ALWAYS recommend that people ship directly to the recipients, for just that reason; why send twice? Why re-pack and re-ship? That doesn't make sense, in most cases.

 

In this case, though, there are reasons to make an exception even though yes, it is going to be considerably more work for me (and cost, which my family pays out of our pocket for shipping on these drives, we have never taken any donations for shipping. The only exception on that shipping was the shipment of my daughter's ponies...Pam at Family to Family was so passionate about Celia's dream that she sent Fed Ex to pick up the box! That was so sweet, she's a gem!)

 

But anyway, I digress! The people in this area are still in really, really bad shape, and I think it's better to send less boxes, with trackable info to be sure that they get to their destination. The school administrator, whom I have contact with and who received the boxes that we have sent so far at her own home, and I wouldn't feel right giving the address out to a lot of people, you know? I also don't know if she could handle dealing with a huge bunch of mail, with all the other things she has to deal with and so I'm trying to make it easier on her.

 

But, please know that I agree with you, you definitely have a valid, and correct idea that it's better to ship direct when you can. That is my usual policy! But in this case, we thought better of it.

 

I hope you decide to send us a little blankie! I always take pictures when I pack up stuff like this so the donors can see that we have handled their items with care...anyone wanna see pictures of 300 books in my livingroom back in 2003 for Cleveland Clinic? LOL We had blankets to go then too, and I still have pictures!

 

If anybody is new to crochetville and would like to see some of the letters that I've gotten from facilities etc. that have received items from our drives before to make you feel more comfortable, please just drop me an email at sherwoodro at sbcglobal dot net and I will be happy to show you letter scans. I understand people being wary of donating to anything these days...but I have been at this a long while now and from the looks of it, lots of people are willing to toss in their lot with me We're up to 20 blankets pledged, just since this morning. I have one friend who is making FIVE!!! And she's not even at C'ville LOL. There are some really great, great giving people in the world. I'm privileged to know ya all.

I know that when I need help to get something like this accomplished, that my friends always surprise me and I meet the nicest new people, too.

 

Hope that helps clear things up!

Ro

 

p.s. I think that the Boxes for Brenden thread may still be around the board somewhere...I coordinated quite a bit on that, too, so you can see that I do know what I'm doing LOL Ah, here it is. http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6634 There are also threads about the UMC drive I did and some others too, I think.

[Daisy]

Hi Ro , I have a question about the size of the blankies.....are the 24X26 for girls and the 34X36 for boys.....or doesn't it matter, because boys are girls are different sizes? Just wanted to make sure, because I am almost 1/2 way done with one of them.

Daisy.

[Ro]

wow, Daisy, you work fast!!!

 

The difference in the sizes is because the children are different ages. From infant to age seven (there is only one seven year old, and someone is making a blanket in the larger size for her...) we have almost 20 of the smaller sized ones pledged now so I'm hoping that some folks will pitch in to make the larger size for the older kids? I want to have about half of each size out of my target for 50 blankets (if we get more, that's great too! I won't complain LOL Shortly, I will be back and I'm going to post the guidelines here in the thread so everybody can see them. I'm going to ask that people make the bigger blankets but if you don't have the time and really want to send a blanket for this, of course I won't turn down any of the smaller ones!!!

 

Right now I have a young lady waiting for me to teach her to make her first granny square, so she can make her first blanket for this project. I'm so excited, my daughter's first blankie!!! So I have to grab a hook and get goin, but I will be back in a little bit!!!

 

big hugs and thanks again everybody who has offered to help!!! I can't wait to see what you all come up with.

 

xoxo

Ro

[Stacy25]

Hey Ro-

I volunteered to make a smaller one, but if you're in need of bigger ones, I can do one of those, instead. It will just take a bit longer.

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

Hi Ro , I have a question about the size of the blankies.....are the 24X26 for girls and the 34X36 for boys.....or doesn't it matter, because boys are girls are different sizes? Just wanted to make sure, because I am almost 1/2 way done with one of them.

Daisy.

 

Your making me look bad Girl I've barely started mine.

[Daisy]

Alisha , you are so funny! I needed that laugh, thanks It's gonna take me a while with the second one though......cause I'll be using a different yarn. I wish I could run marathons with my crochet, but the truth is.....I'm slower than a snail. It just so happened that I jumped in my yarn bag, as soon as I found about this need. Needless to say, my house is a wreck, my laundry is overflowing the baskets, and the dust bunnies have taken over my house...not to mention a sink full of dishes but it's all for a good cause. My housework isn't going anywhere. I just gotta crochet those blankies. My first one should be done tomorrow.

Daisy.

[Ro]

Hi all! Here are the guidelines as they stand now for this project:

 

Please use only acrylic or cotton yarns. If you are trying to decide on weight, I would think that lighter weight yarns are better because it gets so hot there, but if you are working with worsted or bulky, no worries! Variety is the best thing about these blankie drives!

 

Please let me know when you join up with the project if you're making a boys blanket, a girls blanket, or one that could be used by either; as we go I will update this thread with how many we have of each, and how many I believe we need based on the list of children at the Center that I have. With some of the names, it's hard to determine gender, so for those I will ask for 'either' blankets. But for right now, we still have enough room for people to pick which they want to do.

 

Please make the blankets about 34X36. A little larger or smaller is fine, I won't be getting the tape measure out or anything! LOL This is important so as not to freak folks out: please note that if you're already told me that you're making the smaller size, worry not; go forward with your blankets, that's fine! I am just asking for the larger size from here on because I think we will have plenty of smaller ones.

 

Please do not use anything as trim that could constitute a choking hazard. Other than that, you can make the blankets in any shape or style you want! I want people to enjoy crafting these gifts of love, make them unique...knowing that they are going to specific kids who need some extra "hugs", so use your imagination and have fun with it! I know I'm gonna!

 

Please don't expose the blankets to cigarette smoke before during or after making them. The last thing I ask that you please wash and dry the blanket before you send it, using an unscented detergent and no fabric softener (again, allergy issues!) I have learned these things through dealing with many charities and hospitals over the years, and I really appreciate you all being willing to take that step, so that the blankets are fresh, clean and ready to hand out to the children as soon as they arrive! I will be packing them up in ziploc bags to keep them clean from the moment I open your boxes to the moment they are handed to their child.

 

When your blanket(s) are finished, please drop me a note to tell me that they're on the way. I will be picking them up at my PO box, which I usually do twice a week since I can't drive and family has to take me. But if I know some are coming, I can go more often, and can have someone stop by almost daily if needed. I will post the address to mail too shortly on the website so that it will be available to everybody and so that I know everyone can find it when they need it instead of waiting for me to email it!

 

I think that's everything! Of course I'm half asleep at the moment LOL so if I missed anything or you all have questions that you need answered, just ask away and I will update this post to reflect the answers.

 

Thank you again to everyone who is participating! I'm so excited, my daughter picked up the DC stitch like a pro, and loved it! After I got her started joining the circle and doing the first row or so in demonstration, she took the hook, the yarn, and then just started cranking! She cannot wait to finish her first ever charity blankie. I am so proud I could just burst!!! I took some pictures but they're not digital, tomorrow will have to snap some with the webcam!

 

I have to get back to my blankies too. I have three (at least!) I want to make for this....I have some squares done already for one...ideas for another...and a round ripple started as well...hope to make some serious headway tomorrow! I'll post pictures as we go

 

hugs and thanks again!

Ro

[Ro]

Up to 24 blankets! We're just about halfway there!!!

 

 

Thanks everybody!!! I cannot wait to see your work, and to show you what I'm working on too! today I will really try to get some stuff done and then this weekend, it's crochet city for me! The hook will not leave my hand.

 

xoxo

Ro

[Suebee42]

Have you thought about passing this information along to Robin Roberts at ABC? Pass Christian is her hometown -- I'm sure she would extremely touched by the gesture.

 

Sending PM to you right now.

[Ro]

I didn't think of it, but I will try to write her now! The daycare center has such desperate, long-term needs that are way beyond anything I can personally do...they need a permanent facility, funding, help feeding and getting supplies for the kids...someone like Robin Roberts might know people that could help..thanks for the great idea, Sue! I emailed Anderson Cooper awhile back about the Center and never heard back, but I didn't think to mail Robin! I also emailed Ellen Degeneres. Any suggestions like this are more than welcome, cause I'd love to see them get some bigger help than just blankets, too. Thanks Sue!!!

 

25 Blankets and counting!!! Woo hoo!!! Halfway there!!!

 

[Suebee42]

I remember in the aftermath of the hurricane, Robin went home... seeing the look on her face as she stood on the front stoop of her elemetary school -- all that was left of it -- I am sure she will be extremely touched by this project, and respond.

[craftybutterfly]

As a native Mississippian and current resident, I just wanted to say "THANKS Y'ALL" to all of you who have donated items and time to charities that help those in dire straights here in my home state after Katrina. It's folks like you guys who give others hope for a better tomorrow. It will take time, but we'll get back on our feet, with lots of help from loving people like you!

[Daisy]

Hi Ro, just wondered if you had a deadline as to when you wanted all the blankies together for the big mailing? I have one done now, and am just about to start the second.

Daisy.

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

Hi Ro, just wondered if you had a deadline as to when you wanted all the blankies together for the big mailing? I have one done now, and am just about to start the second.

Daisy.

 

Daisy Slow down