THANK YOU

 Enjoy this pretty picture I took in Aruba as you read these sweet Thank You's for all your hard work!

Folks, first I'd like to start out by thanking our good friend, and long time supporter Annemarie from New York.  One night when she had insomnia she took the time to go back through my blog posts here and found some math discrepancies.  She's helped me before by catching posts where I missed adding things and I really appreciate it.  Sometimes I post early in the morning before work, or late at night after work.  Tired eyes sometimes have issues.  She found 5 posts (March 3rd and 11th, May 6th, Aug 21st, and Oct 26th), that needed corrections.  I've made changes on those dates; but rather then edit ever single post from March 3 forward I'll make the adjustments here to our numbers.

Using yesterdays totals I'm showing the adjustments here:

Donations: 2012 

Hats 955+(1 from 8-21)=956  (13 hats from the number we donated last year)
Scarves: 595-1(3-11) +1 (8-21)  (124 scarves over what we donated last year)
Slippers: 144-1=143 (15 over last year)
Sweaters& Ponchos, Shawls, vests:8
Afghans: 42+2=44 (+1 (8-21) +1 (10-26) 11 short of last years
Mittens: 299 (41 more then last year)
Squares: 862 +9 (3-3)= 871 (19 more then last year)
Socks: 196 (137 less then last year)
Rain Poncho's 213 (3 less then last year)
Cotton Washcloths 539 +10 (5-6) -2 (8-21)=547 (256 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 I wanted to share some recent Thank You emails.  Lynn, a lady I meant several years ago at a sausage party (some of you will remember that story, but for those that don't here's the post), helps me by distributing to schools, and agencies in need.  She and her husband volunteer at Holy Family Soup Kitchen, and have made many deliveries there.  Here's a copy from their new director, Sharon Wing.

 **this note from Sharon Wing

Dear Sandy,

We here at Holy Family Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry are very grateful for your kind donations.

We are praying for you and ask that you keep us and the Parish of Holy Family in your prayers.

God Bless You

 -------------------------------------------
Lynn also delivered some of our knitted and crocheted donations to several schools in need.  Many schools have children that come without warm clothing to school.  Some of these children are in fact homeless, some are from the various shelters.  I'm happy we're able to reach out and in so many different ways.  Thank you Lynn for helping with these deliveries.  I know I'm not the only one who appreciates you.

 **this note from Dorothy J. Lowery at Highland Elementary School
Sandy~

On behalf of the staff, students and families of Highland Elementary I would like to thank you for your generosity!  We received your delivery of hats, gloves and; scarves. Our students were thrilled as many of them do not have these necessities. They were very excited as they got to choose something for themselves.

We appreciate you thinking of us!

Sincerely,
Dorothy Lowery
---------------------------------
Lynn also delivered some of our donations to her Daughter-in-law, Michelle Schroeck who is a teacher and knows the need first hand.  Here's a nice email from her.

I would like to express my deepest thanks to you. My mother in law gave me a bag of beautiful hats. I am donating them to our school (Teays Valley Middle School West) and our community free store. Your dedication to helping others is heart warming. We really appreciate all of the love and work you and your organization has poured into these gifts of love. 

Thank you 

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

All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. YOU truly DO make a difference. THANK YOU!

Holy Family

This note may not be real easy to read, as I had to scan it as a picture in order to load it. However, wanted to share with you this hand written thank you from Frances Carr the director of Holy Family. Sadly, this note got tucked into my file before I posted about it...thus the date of October 24th. Sorry for the delay in sharing it with you.

We've been able to donate since receiving this nice note and will continue to do so. Lynn, the lady I met about this time last year at the sausage party makes our deliveries for us. Thank you for the extra help, it's a time saver for me and much appreciated. If you've not read about The sausage party and how Lynn and I met...please do. Click HERE.

Holy Family was founded way back in 1877 in the historic district of Franklington. The soup kitchen and food bank was started in 1970 and prepares and serves 700 hot meals a day Monday-Friday. In addition approximately 250 families get assistance weekly from The Food Bank.

Our hand knitted, crocheted, and loomed goodies are distributed to those in need as they come in for a much needed hot meal. Thank you all for helping us grow in donated items, helping hands and blog awareness. It's wonderful to be able to help so many in need. And thank you Lynn for your help with the deliveries.

*Did you notice the search this blog feature? I've moved it up quite a bit on the blog in case you hadn't noticed it before. Would you like to read all the post that focus on Holy Family, or some other topic? Type the words you'd like to search and you'll find all the post pertaining to that. Maybe...you'd like to see all the posts regarding your donations in order to make yourself a list...type in your name and a listing of those posts will come up.*

2011 Donations:

Scarves 454
Hats 931
Mittens 253
Socks 333
Squares 675
Rain Ponchos 216
Cotton Washcloths 339
Sweaters/Poncho's 10
Slippers 110
Afghans 46 (2 sent to our friends at Pine Street)
Misc Items I've not counted misc items like all the personal care items, the neck warmers, head bands, shawl, hot packs, or yarn etc.

The month of December is half over, for those who like to look ahead I've added January, February, and March of 2012 to our working calendar so you can check out the focuses for those months. The square focus will continue through the end of this month, if you've not yet checked out the guidelines for those squares, please do before knitting, crocheting, and mailing.

All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. YOU truly DO make a difference. THANK YOU!

Homeless, Cold Children in Need THANK YOU!

If you read our blog on a regular basis you know we help many groups. We donate our hand knit and crocheted items to 2 family shelters (The YWCA, The Homeless Families Shelter), we donate our items to 2 free clinics (that care for women and children on the West Side of town), we donate our items to Holy Family (who passes out items to those in need along with a hot meal). Lynn the lady who delivers our items to Holy Family during her volunteer hours also distributes our items to several other areas in need. One such location is Broad Street Elementary School who's children have great need. Many who attend are in fact homeless, many in dire circumstance. It's very difficult to obtain a necessary education when you cold, and hungry and fearful about where you'll be sleeping the night. Though I know we can't take care of all their needs, we can make an important difference with warm hats, scarves, and mittens for these kids.

Here's a nice note from the principal I wanted to share with you all. AND add my thanks to you, for all the work you do.
------------------------------------------
West Broad Elementary
2744 West Broad St.
Columbus, Oh 43204

CCS Mission: Each student is highly educated, prepared for leadership and service, and empowered for success as a citizen in a global community.

October 14, 2011


To Our Friends at Bridge and Beyond,

On behalf of our students and staff, I would like to extend our sincerest gratitude for your donated hats and gloves. Our students are often deprived of clothes and essentials at home and the burden of supplying materials for all of our students becomes very costly. Your generosity and kindness will bring smiles to many students. Those students that receive your materials will surely be grateful and appreciative. It eases the minds of those students that are not prepared with warm clothes to be given them during the cold winter season. I am impressed with your dedication to the children and the neighborhood.

Again, I thank you, my staff thanks you, and most of all, the students thank you.

Sincerely,


Pete Kurty, Principal

and

The staff and students of
West Broad Elementary School
-------------------------------------------
*this is a cut and paste of an email attachment I received, so the spacing is a little off, but I wanted you all to see it*

Highland Elementary School is another school in need that our friend Lynn made a delivery too. Additionally, some donations went to St. Vincent DePaul in Vinton County. Vinton County is one of 29 counties in the state that fall into the Appalachian area. These area's are the poorest in the state. I am hoping donations will continue at such a level that we can continue to spread our wings like this and go "beyond". Vinton is in the brown area when you look at the above map. Franklin, is the county where our clinics, shelters, and Bridge folks are ...that's the orange area.

Asking everyone who reads this today....Please tell at least one person about our cause. Tell them in person, tell them in an email, tell them about it through Facebook, your blog, Twitter. Thank you!

October is mitten month, let's see if we can boast those numbers, still a little bit of time left in the month; though please remember..........we collect them all year long.

November's focus will, Jack Otis Memorial Month, please keep checking in (men will be the focus).

2011 Donations:

Scarves 355
Hats 735
Mitts 142
Socks 135
Squares 515
Rain Ponchos 84
Cotton Washcloths 324
Sweaters/Poncho's 7
Slippers 90
Afghans 40 (2 sent to our friends at Pine Street)
Misc Items I've not counted misc items like all the personal care items, the neck warmers, head bands or yarn etc.

**Reminders:
Include a note with your donation
Do not tie and cut when changing yarn, leave several inches and weave in your ends
Avoid open lacy stitches, general rule of thumb if you can poke your finger throw the stitches, they aren't as warm as they could be.
Avoid white as much as possible, shows dirt too easily
Lots of info in FAQ and Before you donate

All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. YOU truly DO make a difference. THANK YOU!