Pages

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Toasting You Who Donated in 2013

While not the best of pictures, it's also not half bad...for me.  I am not photogenic.  This picture of hubby and I was taken by a friend in Cleveland we were skyping with.  It was her birthday and we were toasting her.  We had cocktails together via skype, lol.  Kinda fun folks, almost like being in the same room with someone.  I was drinking a Dirty Martini, and hubby a Manhatten.  And so, I'm using this picture to toast to you ALL who knitted, loomed, and crocheted to help warm Ohio's homeless during 2013.

Thank you for your hard work, it is truly appreciated.

Folks here's a copy of my post about this time last year where you can see our 2012 totals compared to the previous year, 2011.
Donations: 2012 

Hats 1052  (83 more hats then we donated last year)
Scarves: 666  (195 scarves over what we donated last year)
Slippers: 153 (25 over last year)
Sweaters, Ponchos, Shawls, vests:10
Afghans: 55  (same as last year)
Mittens: 300 (42 more then last year)
Squares: 966 (114 more then last year)
Socks: 281 (52 less pairs then last year)
Rain Poncho's 213 (3 less then last year)
Cotton Washcloths 577 (288 more donated then last year)

Misc Items are not counted individually (such as personal care items, headbands, gators, yarn, wrist warmers/fingerless gloves, face-masks, neck warmers, t-shirts, soap, deodorant, shampoo, toothbrushes, hand and foot warmers Teddy Bears and footies etc)

And now Here's our totals for the year 2013 compared to 2012.

2013 Donations:

Hats: 1004 48 less then 2012
Scarves: 622  44 less then 2012
Socks: 415 **134 MORE then 2012
Afghans: 53 2 less then 2012
Slippers: 220 **67 MORE then 2012
Rain Ponchos: 208 5 less then 2012
Mittens: 178 122 less then 2012
Cotton Wash Clothes: 784 **207 MORE then 2012
Shawls, Sweaters, Vests, Poncho's, Skirts etc. : 17 **7 MORE then 2012

Misc. Items: include personal care, headbands, hand-warmers, cowls/gators/neckwarners and all meal prep related items, Dolls, associated items, stuffed/crocheted/knitted toys... etc aren't tabulated

Though I am sad to report our numbers are indeed down, I do thank everyone who participated with their thoughtful donations.

I am hopeful we'll do better in the coming year with our numbers.  The more we knit and crochet and collect, the more we donate, the more people we make warm.  The items needed for warmth, hats, scarves, mittens are all items we're feel behind in.  Could I ask that we focus more on those items and less on the cotton washcloths.  While the cotton cloths are used and appreciated and nice to have, they're not the items that keep someone warm.

I am behind getting the working calendar up for the year of 2014...but do keep checking in.
                                                                                                                          
All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

10 comments:

  1. Just my two cents worth....I agree with you Sandy and think our focus should be on hats scarves and mittens. However we still need to pat ourselves on the back for all our efforts. Imagine if this group did not exist. Many more folks would be that much more without. Such a sad situation! So lets toast to a clean slate with new numbers in a new year! MORE hats mittens and scarves!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree with you Sally. I think as a group we are putting out a good number of items that keep people warm. We do however need to step up the items that do that. It is such a sad situation that I think sometimes people feel overwhelmed and like their little bit wont do much good. As we know this is not true and everything we can do helps.Toasting the New Year with you all and hoping we can do better this year. PRAYERS

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you Sally and Marj, I always appreciate your visits, and comments and how well you help cheer us on in addition to your knitting and crocheting. You both Rock!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The math geek and optimist in me wants to argue with you that yes, our numbers in key areas are down, but as a whole we donated more items than last year. I know that for my part, its easier and faster to whip out a cotton wash cloth than anything else, so I tend to gravitate towards that, but you all are correct, while helpful, it does not keep anyone warm. I think I will make that my new year's resolution for my charity crochet... keep someone warm. Thanks to all of you for what you do to help. And thank you Sandy for taking us in, the rag tag group that we are :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I hear you Tristi. Another problem for us out of state girls is the huge amount we are forced to pay for Postage or UPS. I could cry when i think of the amount of money I have spent to ship that i could have donated.I am with you though. Had not made a NYears resolution because I never keep them. I have made one now. Keep someone warm! Prayers from a member of the RAG TAG GROUP :+)))

    ReplyDelete
  6. Perhaps besides doing our part knitting or crocheting we need to try to convince at least one more person each to help us by joining in our efforts. I will try by asking some friends in my area......hoping to convince them to commit to some hats scarves or mittens! I would also love to see some more of our readers off this blog to pick up their needles or hooks and create a few items for us. My personal goal each year is to donate at least twenty five items to charity and I have managed to do that for the last four years. So it really isn't that hard to do!

    ReplyDelete
  7. KEEP SOMEONE WARM .......that should be our groups new slogan!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for posting the totals! I am sorry we fell behind in some items. But we did keep lots of people warmer thru this group. I am very thankful for this great group! Here's to a great 2014.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great work, everyone! I'm excited to lend a hand this year. Unfortunately, I've got 20 washcloths in the first batch I'm sending (with mittens and hats, too). I'll try to keep the washcloths down, but I'd love to use up my clearance and donated cotton yarn if possible. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Welcome Raina! I know all your donations will be greatly appreciated!

    ReplyDelete

PLEASE leave your name and url, NOT a profile link, not a google or google plus. Only name and url will take me directly to your blog to return the favor of a comment.