How to Best Help Ohio's Homeless

There are so many ways to help homeless, both here in Ohio and in your state. You can donate money, you can volunteer hours, you can clean out your wardrobe and pass along gently used items you no longer need to various shelters. You can knit, you can crochet and or loom and donate here to Bridge and Beyond. We here at Bridge and Beyond, provide for Men, Women, and Children in Central Ohio. We donate hand knit and hand crocheted hats, scarves, mittens, slipper, cotton washcloths to those in need.

We donate to 3 family shelters: Homeless Families Foundation, Faith Mission, and The Family Shelter portion of The YWCA. We donate to Holy Family (a large food bank that feeds thousands), we donate to St. Vincent DePaul (in Vinton County, Ohio), we donate to The Bridge People (those truly living outside in the elements), we donate to The Mens Shelter through Faith Mission. We donate all year long, all 12 months of the year.

One of the ways we help is our project Welcome Home, where we provide homemade Afghans to those families that transition from Shelter living to their own home/apt. We provide Afghans to say Congratulations on your new home, we provide Afghans to say Good Luck in your new life. We currently provide these Afghans to those making that transition from The Homeless Families Foundation.

The above Afghan (still in need of a name) is being knit from yarn I had here in my stash, as well as yarn that's been donated by good people like yourselves. This feather and fan stitch afghan is a bit different then the heavier, more solid afghans we've been donating. I'm uncertain about donating this when done, or trying to explore a way to use this afghan to collect funds to donate to Homeless Families Foundation. I don't how realistic this idea is. Have any of you held a raffle to collect funds? If so, was it successful? How did you do it? How much money were you able to collect?

Silent Auction? How would that process work? Ideas? Anxious to hear them.

The afghan is approaching it's half way mark.

Also....love to have suggestions for a name. You know I love to name afghans, but am completely blank thus far on this one.

Sing out.

2012 Donations:
Hats: 451
Scarves: 252
Slippers: 82
Shawls: 2
Sweaters 3
Vest 1
Afghans: 23
Mittens: 252
Squares: 345
Socks: 116
Rain Poncho's 198
Cotton Washcloths 369Misc Items are not counted individually (such as personal care items, headbands, gators, yarn, wrist warmers/fingerless gloves, facemasks, neck warmers, t-shirts, soap, deodorant, shampoo, toothbrushes etc).

As the month of June is closing in on us, July's focus has been added to the working calendar. July's focus will be afghans. PLEASE read the requirements in the calendar section, and or the afghan section, and if you have questions, leave a note here or send me an email. I've also added August's focus which will be slippers for those folks who like to work ahead. I should also add you can see all the afghans made from your squares in the afghan section.

**Working Calendar now complete through Dec. 31st 2012**

****Contest, Give Away Announcement and Details on July 1st****

Thanks to Bunny below in the comments, this ghan now has a name. Love the name Sea and Sand.

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!

Unknown Donation from St. Louis

Thank you ????? unknown crocheter from St. Louis. Received these 2 awesome hats and scarves and the mailing label tell me it came from St. Louis, but......there was no note to indicate who are thoughtful person is.

Love having new helping hands, and hope to see you again here; but wish I knew who you were. I've looked through some recent emails but didn't find what I thought was a match for this donation. If you're out there reading this, please make contact either here on the blog or through email at sandycrochet@gmail.com. Anonymous donations are ok...certainly; but please for my bookkeeping let me know who you are.

These hats and scarves are so nice and warm and soft. Looks like they're made with double yarn for added warmth, awesome!

2012 Donations:
Hats: 449+2=451
Scarves: 250+2=252
Slippers: 82
Shawls: 2
Sweaters 3
Vest 1
Afghans: 23
Mittens: 252
Squares: 345
Socks: 116
Rain Poncho's 198
Cotton Washcloths 369
Misc Items are not counted individually (such as personal care items, headbands, gators, yarn, wrist warmers/fingerless gloves, facemasks, neck warmers, t-shirts, soap, deodorant, shampoo, toothbrushes etc).

As the month of June is closing in on us, July's focus has been added to the working calendar. July's focus will be afghans. PLEASE read the requirements in the calendar section, and or the afghan section, and if you have questions, leave a note here or send me an email. I've also added August's focus which will be slippers for those folks who like to work ahead. I should also add you can see all the afghans made from your squares in the afghan section.

**Working Calendar now through years end Dec 31, 2012**

****Contest, Give Away Announcement and Details to be posted on July 1st****

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!

Awesome Cotton WashCloths

Look how pretty these corner to corner knitted washcloths are. Love the colors, particularly the orange. I don't really need more cotton....but, I really like that orange. Thank you Sue W (SSeger on Rav) for your thoughtful donation. We greatly appreciated it.All 3 family shelters receive these cotton washcloths we knit and crochet. Often their used in their move in packs. You're finally able to get a roof over your head and you want a shower, how bout one with your very own specially made for you washcloth!

And, The Homeless Families Foundation often adds some of our knitted and crocheted cotton washcloths to their Welcome Home Package. You've lived in a common space, a shelter and finally you get a place of your own. How nice to have nice new washcloths!

So you see, they really are a nice item. Keep up the good work Sue.

2012 Donations:
Hats: 449
Scarves: 250
Slippers: 82
Shawls: 2
Sweaters 3
Vest 1
Afghans: 23
Mittens: 252
Squares: 345
Socks: 116
Rain Poncho's 198
Cotton Washcloths 363+6=369
Misc Items are not counted individually (such as personal care items, headbands, gators, yarn, wrist warmers/fingerless gloves, facemasks, neck warmers, t-shirts, soap, deodorant, shampoo, toothbrushes etc).

**Looking for unknown crocheter from St. Louis to match up with a recent donation, please make contact.**

As the month of June is closing in on us, July's focus has been added to the working calendar. July's focus will be afghans. PLEASE read the requirements in the calendar section, and or the afghan section, and if you have questions, leave a note here or send me an email. I've also added August's focus which will be slippers for those folks who like to work ahead. I should also add you can see all the afghans made from your squares in the afghan section.

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!

Fabulous Giving from the State of Georgia

Cotton Washcloths, hats, mittens, and scarves. All from the skillful and thoughtful hands of our good friend, Wendy H, from The Peach Tree State, Georgia. Look how sweet the mittens and hat set are...that makes you think of peaches, doesn't it! Many thanks Wendy for your hard work, your thoughtful donation, and your on going support.
AND...look at this full sized patriotic, red, white and blue afghan! Awesome. How appropriate with The 4th of July just around the corner. Nicely done, Wendy H. Due do some internet issues, this post is a bit late. This afghan along with several good sized bags have already been donated to The Homeless Families Foundation. This will make such a wonderful Welcome Home Gift.

Keep up the good work Wendy H. Hope to see you here often on Bridge and Beyond.

2012 Donations:
Hats: 444+5=449
Scarves: 249+1=250
Slippers: 82
Shawls: 2
Sweaters 3
Vest 1
Afghans: 22+1=23
Mittens: 151+1=252
Squares: 345
Socks: 116
Rain Poncho's 198
Cotton Washcloths 354+9=363
Misc Items are not counted individually (such as personal care items, headbands, gators, yarn, wrist warmers/fingerless gloves, facemasks, neck warmers, t-shirts, soap, deodorant, shampoo, toothbrushes etc).

As the month of June is closing in on us, July's focus has been added to the working calendar. July's focus will afghans. PLEASE read the requirements in the calendar section, and or the afghan section, and if you have questions, leave a note here or send me an email. I've also added August's focus which will be slippers for those folks who like to work ahead. I should also add you can see all the afghans made from your squares in the afghan section.

**Looking for unknown crocheter from St. Louis to match up with a recent donation, please make contact.**

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!

Donations from Virginia for Ohio's Homeless

Lovely and thoughtful crocheting from the state of Virginia donated by our newest pair of helping hands, Dorothy M. Thrilled to have you join us Dorothy. Thank you for this thoughtful donations of hats, mittens, slippers, scarves, and rain poncho's. A special thanks for tagging everything and joining your mittens and slippers. That saves me tremendous amounts of time. I do ask everyone to pair their items and label with size. Not only does that help me, but it's helps at the other end as well when things are distributed at the various shelters.

Great color selection here too. Hope to see you here often on Bridge and Beyond.

Dorothy included a note with her donation that indicated she retired in 2011 and has more to knit and crochet then she did before. She contributes to other charities as well.
2012 Donations:
Hats: 439+5=444
Scarves: 248+1=249
Slippers: 81+1=82
Shawls: 2
Sweaters 3
Vest 1
Afghans: 22
Mittens: 147+4=151
Squares: 345
Socks: 116
Rain Poncho's 196+2=198
Cotton Washcloths 354
Misc Items are not counted individually (such as personal care items, headbands, gators, yarn, wrist warmers/fingerless gloves, facemasks, neck warmers, t-shirts, soap, deodorant, shampoo, toothbrushes etc)

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!

From Michigan to Tennessee and Back Again

We've been sharing stories of why some of us knit or crochet for charity. I find all the stories heart warming and inspiring and hope you do too.

If you've missed reading them, here they are. Please do take time to read them, and as always leave us a comment so we know you were here. Remember you do not need to be a blogger to do so. Simply type your comment, then click name and url in the drop down box and leave the url space blank. We like knowing who visits and reads our posts, we like having support for each other's crafts/donations and stories, and spending time on the blog leaving comments etc. helps the blog which in turn helps us help more people in need. So please, those of you who are shy (and I know there's a good number of you out there), please leave messages when you visit us.

We've been sharing stories...about why we donate. If you've not read them, please do. And when you read them, please leave a comment so we know you were there/here. Remember you do not need to be a blogger to leave comments. And leaving comments, spending time on the blog reading does help the blog.

**Sharing stories about why we donate:
My story Here
Wendy H tells here story HERE
Sandie P's story HERE
Diana K's story HERE
Sue F tells her story HERE
Sherry K tells her story HERE
Katie's story is HERE

And now, you can read why Sue W from Michigan donates. You might know Sue from Ravelry as SSeger. She's moved from Michigan to Tennessee and now is back in Michigan.

The reasons I knit for charity are: I just can not sit and watch TV and not have knitting in my hands. There are so many people out there who have less than I do, so I want to help them. I don't have much money, but I have yarn.
I started knitting for charity about 25 yrs ago when I lived in Muskegon, MI. The mall put up a mitten Christmas tree for the poor, well I did not knit mittens, but I made scarves for the tree for several years. Then I moved to TN. Stopped knitting for a while, then I found a group in Nashville that I knitted for. Got a computer, and signed up with Revelry. There I was able to find even more charities to knit for and that is how I found Bridge and Beyond.

*Thank you Sue for sharing your story with us. We're happy to have you join us from whatever state you're from. Hope your move went well.*

**Anyone notice this is post #763? WOW, can you believe it? I'm thinking about another contest...by way of celebrating....please stay tuned for an announcement**

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!