Cro-Knit Scarves Warm Homeless

Thank you Karen S for this thoughtful donation knitted scarves and a loomed hat.  The sun was truly streaking through the day I opened and photographed this donation....that doesn't happen to often this time of year here in central Ohio.  So I welcome the sun screaking, though it makes it a bit difficult for you to see Karen's donation really well.  The colors on top left are tan and green, middle one is light blue and brown.  The third one is the easiest to see pink and maroon.  

As you all probably know by now, Karen uses the croknit technique, so her donations are easy to identify. I call it the Karen special, lol.

With this donation, we're a bit over 96% of our goal for hats!  How cool is that folks!!

I've been posting snip-its of stats and history of Bridge and Beyond since making the announcement on Nov 1st, that Bridge and Beyond would stop operations on Dec 31st of this year, 2021.  If you've not read the announcement or any of the following post in subsequent days, please do click or scroll back and read.

AND, please continue to pop in daily for updates with our current numbers, as well as history about our 13 years of operation.  As of the writing of this blog post we have 2,189 blog posts.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. 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.

Sunset of Bridge and Beyond, Afghan Totals

A picture I took quite a few years ago on a vacation with hubby in southern California.  Thought I'd share this sunset with you all, as we've been discussing the end (the sunset if you will) of Bridge and Beyond as of Dec 31st of this year.  If you've not been here recently, you may not have read the notice on November 1st.  I've been posting about it, as I continue to post our current donations.

I've been sharing stats and history of Bridge and Beyond since it's beginnings (sunrise...but no, I don't have pictures of sunrise, as I'm not an early riser), in Dec of 2008.

Scarves click HERE

Socks click HERE

Mittens totals click HERE

Hats click HERE

As the word is getting out about the closure of Bridge and Beyond, several of you have contacted me to express your wish to continue to donate to someone/somewhere.  I am working on some alternatives and will be posting more about that as time goes on.  

Anyone local can take their donations directly to Homeless Families Foundation at 33 North Grubb Street (just off West Broad Street), Columbus, Ohio  43215

614-461-9247.  Here's the link to the webpage.  There are many ways to help beyond donating knitted or crocheted items.  There are volunteer opportunities, and the ability to donate $$.  The contact person is Chad Gardner 614-715-8551 or email him at cgardner@homelessfamiliesfoundation.org.  Currently donations can be delivered on Monday's from 10 am - 1 pm.

For those not local, please stay tuned; as I will be posting additional information.

I thought I would take this opportunity to share our stats for the knitted and crocheted afghans we donated through the years:

2011   55

2012   55

2013   55

2014   32

2015   24

2016   36

2017   32

2018   34

2019   14

2020   40

2021   19...to date as of Nov 5, 2021

**Total donated 396 afghans!

You may have noticed that we don't have numbers for donated afghans before 2011, this reflects some of our growth through the years.  It was at that time we grew enough to extend what we made and donated for a program I called Welcome Home.  Our afghans were given to folks who transitioned from shelters to a home situation.  They received a package of items to help them get started and our afghans were part of that with a congratulations letter that included information regarding the nature of family heirlooms and how to care/launder the afghans.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. 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.

Announcement, History, and Socks to Warm Cold Feet

In recent days I made the announcement that Bridge and Beyond will cease to exist come December 31st of this year, 2021.  There are many factors involved with this decision that I've blogged about in the past week.  One primary reason is difficulty with mail service that has substantially changed; making it very difficult to ensure your donations are protected when I travel.

I've been posting totals of the amazing work so many of you have participated in over the last 13 years, as Bridge and Beyond's first blog post was Dec 2, 2008; and our first donation was received on Dec. 9, 2008 from our friend Bunny.

On December 5, 2008 Sunny Fairy designed our blog logo.  

Both Sunny Fairy and Bunny were early supporters of Bridge and Beyond.  While they are not currently active with us, I do so appreciate their help in the early formation of Bridge and Beyond.

My SIL, Jan (married to my older brother, Chuck), introduced me to Rae when I first expressed a desire to set up a charity to help the homeless here in central Ohio.  Rae was and continues to be a church friend of Jan and Chuck's.  She prepares hot meals on Sat. mornings to feel those living out in the elements.  It is her group that we first supported by supplying her with warm hats and scarves in the first month of Bridge and Beyond, December of 2008.

We continued to attract more pairs of helping hands and accepted other donated items such as socks, slippers, cotton washcloths, afghans, and mittens; as well as personal care items throughout  the years.  We were able to supply not only Rae's group, but several homeless shelters here in Columbus, as well as several schools in a depressed area in need.

As I dug out wool socks this morning to warm my feet, I thought I'd share how many pairs of socks we've donated through the years.

SOCKS:

2009    70

2010   101

2011   333

2012    281

2013   281

2014   199

2015   201

2016   135

2017    29

2018    68

2019   113

2020   107

2021   193....as of Nov 1st

Total 1,830 pairs of socks to warm 1,830 pairs of feet.

Please continue to check in to see more stats and stories about the work that's been done here on Bridge and Beyond over the 13 years it's been able to help the Homeless here in central Ohio.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. 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.

Where Do Donations Come From? Mittens Totals

This is a colorful map (more so than the one at the very bottom of the blog, and this map gives the states name.  Over the 13 years Bridge and Beyond has been busy knitting and crocheting for charity, we've had participation from 41 states, 82% of the country.  AND donations from around the globe from England, France, Germany, and Puerto Rico.  That's pretty impressive I think, how about you?

The ONLY states where at least one person hasn't donated are:

Alabama

Alaska

Arkansas

Connecticut

Mississippi

Montana

Nevada

Rhodes Island

Wyoming

**Unless I've missed documenting someone along the line.

I remember the donation from England was from a man I had gotten to know in my early blogging years, he sent money and asked me to buy socks with it.  The one from Germany was a military wife stationed in Germany.  France...I think from memory was a lady who had a gift shop and sent things from the end of the year from her shop that didn't sell.  Puerto Rico was actually more than one donation, DaMaris.

Just thought I'd share some our stories, our history if you will.

Mittens aren't the easiest item to make, so thought you might like to see how we faired with those over the years.

2009 our first full year 66

2010                              151

2011                              258

2012                              300

2013                              300

2014                              130

2015                              123

2016                              108

2017                              120

2018                                75

2019                                66

2020                                81

2021                                72....so far, as of Oct 31st

1, 850 pairs of warm hands!  Our best years were 2012 and 2013 with 300 pairs each years, and our lowest year was 2019 with 66.

Remember to keep checking in, as I will continue to post donations and update totals as we make our way to Dec 31st, when we will close down Bridge and Beyond.  If you've missed the announcement, please click HERE.               

**The counts on our progress bars are current. 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.

Sunny Florida Helps Warm Ohio's Homeless.

Woot Woot.  Look at this awesome afghan.  It's lovely and crocheted in the very traditional granny style method with black edging and joining.  So many fun colors.  AND everyone loves a true granny square afghan.  These colors are perfect for men or women.  Our friend and long time supporter, Sandra R from sunny Florida has done it again with this generous donation of knitted and crocheted goodies.

She's knitted hats in a variety of colors and sizes, and her always popular mittens!!  She's also included the traditional Grandma's favorite (corner to corner) cotton washcloths in her donation, as well as scarves.  Something here for everyone.  Thank you for always tagging your hats with size; the volunteers at the shelters especially appreciate that.

We're hitting some fun milestones here folks with this donation.  Take a look at our goals for Cotton Cloths.......we just surpassed it!  AND look how close we are for both hats and mittens...in both cases we're only 13 from our goal.

I think we're going to end on a high note when Dec 31st rolls around and we close the book on Bridge and Beyond.  Have you read the important announcement?  If not, please click HERE and read. 

In our short almost month when we began in Dec of 2008 we donated 33 hats and 24 scarves, and now look at us.  Those were the items we started with and over the years we donated:

2008    33 Hats and  24 scarves

2009   335 Hats and 123 scarves

2010   592 Hats and 340 scarves

2011   969 Hats and 473 scarves

2012  1052 Hats and 666 scarves

2013  1053 Hats and 666 scarves

2014   971 Hats and  590 scarves

2015   468 Hats and  196 scarves

2016   516 Hats and  371 scarves

2017   371 Hats and  256 scarves

2018   270 Hats and  224 scarves

2019   300 Hats and  212 scarves

2020   351 Hats and  146 scarves

2021   310 Hats and  146 scarves............thus far, as of Oct 30th when this post was written.

So our biggest year for hats was 2013 with 1,053 and our lowest year for hats was 2018 with 270.  That's a whopping 7,591 hats that we've knitted and or crocheted and donated since Dec of 2008.  Think of the 7,591 warmer heads.  Together we all accomplished that.

And our best years for scarves were both 2012 and 2013 with 666 each year.  Our lowest was 2009 with 123.  And our total to date of knitted/crocheted scarves if 4,433.  I wear scarves a lot, so truly know how much warmer those 4,433 people were.  I hope you're all smiling and nodding in agreement.

So while we may be winding down the year and our work with Bridge and Beyond will be ending Dec 31st of this year; each and every person who participated throughout these past 13 years should feel very good about the people that were warmed by our hand crafted goodies.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. 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.

Personal Care and Post Office Troubles, And ...

A small collection of personal care items collected on a recent short out of town with hubby.  It was on this trip to Hilton Head, SC a week or so back that I discovered all the problems now associated with doing a mail hold.  It's never been an issue before; but ..........our post office has closed which presented a whole host of problems that never existed before.

1. When your post office closes you can not qualify for a mail hold set up on line, even when signed  into your account.
2. You can not qualify for automated telephone mail hold
3. When you get a live human being, they can not do a mail hold for you
4. You must go in person, stand in line, and fill out a mail hold card (which they may or may not loose)
5. Once back in town you return to the post office nearest you, the one where you filled out the mail hold document and are told you can not pick up your mail there, you must go to the main office.
6. The following day arriving at the main post office after difficulty with finding a parking spot and it takes 3 people to find your mail.  But, hey I lucked out the lady in front of me had been back 3 times and no one could find her mail, nor her mail hold card.

Yes this is one of the reasons I've decided it's time to put an end date to this grassroots charity, Bridge and Beyond.  So, after 13 years Bridge and Beyond's last date will be Dec 31st of this year, 2021.

Hubby and I travel a good bit, and will be increasing time away as he nears retirement.  With mail issues (significant mail delays), and reduced time you can do a mail hold, and above stated problems........it seems the writing was on the wall.  Thus, I have made this decision after considerable thought.

Dec 2, 2008 I wrote my first blog post here on Bridge and Beyond where I asked a group of blog friends if they wanted to help.  It started out quite small.  We were going to help a group of folks living in the elements that a friend, Rae prepared hot meals for on Sat mornings.  Mostly men at the time, a few woman and no children.

In one weeks time, I started receiving emails asking for my address on Dec 8th, and on Dec 9, 2008 I received my first donation from Bunny.  Bunny was an avid supporter of Bridge and Beyond in the early years.  Some of you may remember her.  She moved onto supporting other charities from my memory; but it's a nice memory to remember she was the first donator to this charity, Bridge and Beyond.

I'll will continue to accept donations, and blog about them as the year continues.  AND, I will continue to share some history and memories of how we came to be and how we grew.  Please stay tuned.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. 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.