A Pyramid of Caring, AWESOME

Bridge and Beyond featured in Crochet Magazine, Dec issue page 17


These 11 packages (7 boxes and 4 pouches) arrived recently while I was out of town. My trusty neighbor...whom you've heard about multiple times made this display for me. I had to share! Firstly, I LOVE that I don't have to stop the mail and that he takes such awesome care of your wonderful handcrafted items. He's truly the best neighbor ever!

He knows and enjoys what we do, and likes to see where all the goods come from. This time though, he truly outdid himself. With the help of his very awesome and adorable son J....arranged these boxes for me to enjoy. His son.........who's adorable was concerned that all the packages were for me, and so they left the Fortune Magazine for my Darling Hubby. How cute is that!!

I envisioned J....sitting in the opening between the boxes and need to ask.............hey did you take a picture! Rest assured all, you're in good hands even when mail is delivered and I'm not around.

The more I looked at this picture the more I got to thinking. Not only is my neighbor awesome, not only are you all awesome to wait til I return to say, "hey...you goodies arrived".............but this represents the true power of a Pyramid...........a Giving Pyramid. Big packages, smaller packages all supporting each other.............all for the good of someone else. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. We support those in need one package, one item, one stitch at a time.............TOGETHER............TOGETHER, WE ARE A FORCE, TOGETHER WE CAN AND DO ACCOMPLISH GREAT THINGS.............TOGETHER WE MAKE AN IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE

2011 Donations:

Scarves 412
Hats 903
Mittens 247
Socks 318
Squares 567
Rain Ponchos 208
Cotton Washcloths 338
Sweaters/Poncho's 10
Slippers 100
Afghans 44 (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.

Yesterday I posted information about all the women we've been able to help, while the previous day focused on the men. Today, I want to review with you the children we help through your thoughtful donations. The first group's we added children's items to were the 2 free clinics that care for mothers and their children (no babies), then we added children who wait in line for a hot meal through Holy Family, we've donated directly to the following schools (who work with many homeless children in need: Stiles Elementary, Darby Dale Elementary, West Broad Street Elementary, and Highland Elementary School. We've donated children items to both The Homeless Families Foundation and The YWCA where children and their families live in temporary housing as they try to get back on their feet. And we've extended beyond our borders here in Franklin County and donated children items to Vinton County (a very poor county in Ohio) through St. Vincent DePaul.

Please keep up the good work folks, we've helped many and need to help many more. The cold, wet and dangerous months are upon us. People need our help even more during these times.

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!

Crocheted Scarves Donated for Ohio's Homeless

Thank you Karen A for these fabulous scarves. The men will love the brown camo and tan on the left. The women will enjoy the pretty turquoise and light green and probably the variegated blue since it's a bit more open /feminine stitch. I really love how wavy the stitches look in the brown camo and light green; but the camo...it really shows up. Did you do back loop double crochets?

These scarves are such a nice size, that folks will be able to really wrap up, which is awesome when you're trying to stay warm. Many thanks Karen A for your on going support, it's appreciated.

Yesterday I posted a bit of a reflection/reminder about Men. The Men in need and the men we've helped to date. Today's reflection will focus on Women, and tomorrow's children. Please check in often.

While the group began as a group to help Men, the largest group in need and the group most often forgotten we were quickly able to expand to include adult women in our donations. We knitted and crocheted for women living on the street (though fewer in number then the men), the women living in temporary housing at Nancy Place through Faith Mission, and the women being treated at 2 free clinics that care for Women and Children. Through more growth we were able to add the women who wait in line for a hot meal through Holy Family. We continued to grow more and we're able to add The Homeless Families Foundation where families have help getting back on their feet while living in temporary housing. Shortly there after we added a 2nd family shelter with the same mission..The YWCA that also houses families. We extended yet again and went beyond the borders of Franklin County with donations to help women in Vinton County through St. Vincents DePaul.

Please check in tomorrow and see what together we've accomplished with regard to children.


2011 Donations:

Scarves 412
Hats 903
Mittens 247
Socks 318
Squares 567
Rain Ponchos 208
Cotton Washcloths 338
Sweaters/Poncho's 10
Slippers 100
Afghans 44 (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.

Asking you all during this busy month to add some extra comments to help the blog, tell a friend, a neighbor a co-worker what you do with your donations. Help us grow more so we help warm more folks in need.

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!

Donating Yarn to the Ohio Homeless

Cheryl B, fellow Ohioan donated a box of left over yarn she had in hopes it could be put to good use. I assured it would. You might know Cheryl from Rav as Cheryl1973. Some of above yarn is wool so will be used most likely for those outdoors and mixed with some darker colors. We're happy to have you join us Cheryl, and hope to see you here often. The more, the merrier.

*****Please avoid open and lacy stitches, if you can see your hand through the item, and or poke your finger through...it's too lacy and not warm enough. *****

2011 Donations:

Scarves 407
Hats 903
Mittens 247
Socks 2318
Squares 567
Rain Ponchos 8208
Cotton Washcloths 338
Sweaters/Poncho's 10
Slippers 100
Afghans 44 (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.

I'm very pleased and excited to see our numbers of donated items continue to grow and hope we see lots more of the same. As the numbers grow, I know we'll be able to help more folks in need. Wouldn't it be wonderful to hit 1,000 this year in hats donated? Or 500 scarves, knowing each item helps some cold man, woman, or child in need.

As a way to remind, and reflect as we approach years end....We help Men living outdoors, truly under bridges. We donate to men luckily enough to get a night here and there in a shelter through Faith Mission. We donate to men trying to keep their families in tact through The Homeless Families Foundation, and we help men living in temporary housing through The YWCA also a family shelter where people are trying hard to get back on their feet.

Tomorrow's post will review the women we aid, please check back.

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!

Give a Square, Thank You Sandie

16 crocheted squares from our very good friend and long time supporter, Sandie in Louisiana. These wonderful purple, lavendar, pink, dusty rose squares will find their way into an afghan for our Project Welcome Home to benefit The Homeless Families Foundation. They may be group with other squares, they may be used on their own....I'm needing to check the stash of squares I have on hand to decide.

This is a perfect December 1st blog post, as it kicks off our month long focus on squares. Squares knitted and or crocheted are joined to make afghans that are donated to The Homeless Families Foundation as house warming gifts when they transition from their temporary shelter housing to more permanent housing. Squares will be collected for the month of December, then put on hold until. I prefer not to collect squares all year long, but I will periodically call for them to be mailed again. So, don't worry if you run into a time crunch during the busy month of December. I like to hold on squares to control how many I have on hand to join.

2011 Donations:

Scarves 407
Hats 903
Mittens 247
Socks 318
Squares 551+16=567
Rain Ponchos 208
Cotton Washcloths 338
Sweaters/Poncho's 10
Slippers 100
Afghans 44 (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.

Squares should be made of washable yarn, be no smaller then 7 inches or larger then 10 inches. Please avoid using solid white. Do not knot and cut when changing yarn, please leave appropriate tails of several inches when changing yarn and work all ends into your work, except the final tail. Leave a tail of at least 5 inches on the final tail. Any questions, please leave them in the comments and or email me.

*****Please avoid open and lacy stitches when making hats, scarves and slippers. If you can see your hand through the item, and or poke your finger through...it's too lacy and not warm enough. *****




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!

Crocheted goodies being donated

Thank you Mary H from Ohio for this thoughtful and abundant donation of crocheted goodies. There are 11 brightly colored scarves, sized nice the kids, a pink shawl that I believe one of the ladies/Mom's at one of the 2 family shelters will enjoy wrapping up in, and a Candy Corn Colored crib sized ghan to brighten and warm one of the young children for our project, "Welcome Home" for The Homeless Families Foundation. Nice work Mary, keep up the good work.



2011 Donations:

Scarves 396+11=407
Hats 903
Mittens 247
Socks 318
Squares 551
Rain Ponchos 208
Cotton Washcloths 338
Sweaters/Poncho's 10
Slippers 100
Afghans 43+1=44 (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.

This is day 30 in our Jack Otis Memorial Month, tomorrow starts our focus for squares. Please read the details before your knit/crochet/loom and mail. Thank you.

This post is #565...can you believe how fast we zipped by our last mentioned milestone of 400 posts? WOW. Each posts represents the hard and wonderful work you all do, as each post highlights a day of donations from someone...impressive isn't it! Give yourself all a pat on the bag for stellar work.

*****Please avoid open and lacy stitches, if you can see your hand through the item, and or poke your finger through...it's too lacy and not warm enough. *****

Reminder that posting comments helps the blog. How you might ask? Increased comments helps our search engine placement. When we place well in the search engines more folks can find us to help us which in turns means we can help more people. So, please please please. I know many of you visit, and read. Be brave, leave a comment, let us know you were here. Encourage each other and admire each other's work. Be friendly and get to know the other wonderful folks who help. It truly does help the blog which in turns help those we're reaching out too. You do not need to be a blogger to leave comments. Simply type your comment and click the drop down box that says name and url and leave url empty if you don't have a blog. Please use the name and url instead of anonymous. Anonymous doesn't tell us who was here and often ends up in the spam folder which in turn does not help the search engine optimization.

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!

Donation from Canada

Three warm and very soft knitted hats and a pair of knitted mittens from our newest pair of helping hands, Bonnie B (Panther from Rav) from Canada! These hats are nice and stretching and will fit a good range of head sizes. One can leave the brim rolled once as the orange and brown hats are, or double roll it as the darling turquoise print one is. Thank you so much Bonnie for your thoughtful and well made donations, they are greatly appreciated. Hope to see you here on Bridge and Beyond often.

Today and tomorrow left in our month long Jack Otis Memorial Month. Many thanks to all who read the story about Jack, and my other classmate and friend Bill. I'm always interested in learning others personal stories to share with you all. It's important to understand the homelessness does effect people we know. If you have a story you can share, please email at:
sandycrochet@gmail.com.

**Reminders:
Please include a note with your email, on line profile page and or ID's with your donations so I can contact you to let you know your thoughtful donation arrived.
Things to avoid in your knitting and crocheting: white, lacy stitches, and knotting and cutting your yarn.
***Working calendar lists each of the monthly highlighted items for this past year. I will be posting a new one for the upcoming year of 2012, please stay tuned.
****The blog is updated often, so please take time and read guidelines, some items may have changed since you began donating based on the groups we are donating too.

2011 Donations:

Scarves 386
Hats 900+3=903
Mittens 247
Socks 318
Squares 551
Rain Ponchos 208
Cotton Washcloths 338
Sweaters/Poncho's 10
Slippers 100
Afghans 43 (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.

December's focus will be squares, please check guidelines before you knit or crochet. Please email me with any questions regarding those guidelines and or times to mail squares.

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!