I received an e-mail from Grandma's Spinning Wheel earlier this week offering assist folks in contributing to
"the goal of knitting 600 monsters for the survivors of the Newtown tragedy, Ravelry has a group set up. Grandma's will be happy to collect and ship these to the distribution point. We have a stash of donated yarns for charity knitting so if you'd like to come by and dig through it to make a Monster, feel free. We don't have a deadline yet, but will let you know as soon as plans solidify!
Please check our blog for links to the Ravelry group and a couple of free patterns".
My thanks to Michael and Vicki at Grandma's for the mailing!
Today's "Alms" gifting options are the core Holiday drives that we hear tell of every Holiday Season. They can become filler-noise on the radio or between-ads to skip on the TV.
Yep, please take a moment to consider what they truly mean.
- How many times a day does a baby need to be changed? What about the cost of elder-care diaper needs? That's what a Diaper Drive supports.
- Yes, there are a lot of food drives for the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona this time of year. And it helps to cover the food needs NOW....please don't forget them the rest of the year or consider donating funds to support them in the less generous gifting seasons. Our local food bank does an excellent job of creating interesting and useful fund raising events. Have you looked at the events in your local area?
- Toys for Tots - Our Marine Corp does a great deal more than protect our country. As a child, did you experience a Christmas with no gifts? Yeah, it sounds like a commercial you fast forward through on TIVO, but seriously....there are people that are NOT overextending their credit to buy a game cube. They're concerned about affording food and toys will have to wait.
- Salvation Army Blanket and Coat drive. Yes, it does get cold enough in Arizona...
- Salvation Army Adopt-a-family programs. Ok, this one has history with me. It's a bit late to bring this up and do I apologize for the late timing.
I was able to organize these for a few years for my co-workers at the old job. I cannot begin to describe the generosity of the Stores and my co-workers when we pursued sales and discounts on bicycles, clothing, heaters (a big box store gifted us with two for the price of one!), and some toys for the multiple families our office "adopted". Our IT/Ops guys got amazing deals and put together bicycles in our mini-kitchen area.
I cannot describe how it felt to deliver those gifts without dissolving into tears.
The look on the little girl's and her brother's face when we brought them each the bicycle, clothing and a few toys from their wish-list.
The Grandfather couldn't speak to us but gave us a teary smile as we brought he and his family clothing, toys, and space heaters.
The woman who hugged us and let us hold her few-week old preemie baby that had had to stay in the hospital until just a couple of days before. We carried in clothing and toys into her sparse but clean house.
If you can - Give. Funds, items, time - well wishes. It's a gift that gives back.
No comments:
Post a Comment