Exposure Kills Homeless Veterans

A-Z Day 6 E=Exposure

This incredible picture truly looks like somewhere over the rainbow.  This was taken by Steve Edquist at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery in Minnesota.  A final resting place of honor for our Military. (Thank you Steve for the use of your photo).

Meet Jerome William Jackson, better known as Jerry.  He was a Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corp from 1975-1978.  This picture is the face of a homeless man, taken in 2005 at The Union Gospel Mission in St. Paul where Jerry lived for awhile off and on after being evicted from public housing.  Sadly, this Marine died of exposure on Feb 21st.  His body was found in a homemade shack in below freezing temperatures in Indian Mounds Park.  This Marine who served his country had schizophrenia, making life difficult for him and sometimes those around him; though he was well liked by those who knew him at Our Saviours' Lutheran Church.

No one should die of the elements, of exposure in this country; and most certainly not a Veteran.  But, it happens.  According to an article by Piper Hoffman of Care2, about 700 Homeless People die every year from exposure.  What a sad statistic that is.

This is a sad story, one of many and one of the reasons we do what we can here on Bridge and Beyond.  Warm hats, scarves, and mittens can save a life.  And so we knit and we crochet and we donate.  This isn't the first post I've written about the death of a homeless person.  Very recently I posted about Michael B. Williams, Jr.

However, this is also a rather heart warming story, as the community came together and took care of arrangements to honor this man, Lance Corporal Jackson.  He was buried at Ft. Snelling with military honors, a 21 gun salute and bag pipes.  Mueller Memorial provided their service for free, and arrangement were made to locate his brother, Don and bring him in for the service.  He was honored to receive the folded flag from his brothers casket.  The brothers hadn't seen each other in several years.   Communications were strained and difficult with the disease and the homelessness.  RIP Jerry.

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.

Donating Crocheted Slippers Helps Homeless

Happy Easter.

While today is a Sunday, and a day off from The A-Z Challenge, we do still have donations to share and praise.  These fabulous slippers are crocheted and donated by Cheryl B's friend Romona F.  The slippers are nice and thick, therefore both warm and durable with nice tight stitches...and I think double yarn?  Lots of colors and sizes to warm feet of many different sizes.

Many thanks Cheryl for mailing your friend, Romana's slippers and for spreading the word for Romona to help us.  Welcome to the group Romona F, we're always thrilled to have more helping hands, and look forward to seeing you here on Bridge and Beyond in the future.

Thank you for this thoughtful donation ladies, and Please keep up the good work.

**We've on just begun with the A-Z challenge, tomorrow will be day 5 and the letter E, hope to see you as days and letters continue.  Thus far, I'm pleased to say we have some new followers as I write this we're at 311, believe we were at 205 ish prior to the challenge.  Comments are picking up nicely and a few folks may join us here with our mission, while others may try to find a similar group in their local area to help; and that's good too.  If we've inspired a few more souls to lend a helping hand to their fellow man, it's been successful.  On the technical side of things, there are people who signed up that have comments closed, no badge, and or 3 steps to get through for captcha's, who really aren't participating.  In past years I've taken time to note them all and, as requested let the organizers know.  I found that frustrating, it often seemed it didn't do any good.  I now look to see if comments are open, you don't have to sign in or register with another service and whether or not they have the badge, if they don't; I don't read the blog post and move on.  Vs taking time to read it, and start to formulate a response and get frustrated at wasting time.  My attitude is different this year, and because of that I am less frustrated than other years during the challenge using other blogs.  My mission this year is to spread the word about our cause, and the plight of the homeless across the nation.  By doing that, concentrating on the larger need, and being hopeful we'll gain some additional helping hands...I'm glad I took the time to join, to write and schedule 26 alphabetical posts, visit other blogs daily,  and already feel like it's been a worthwhile venture for our friends, The Homeless who are in need.

2015 DONATIONS:
Hats: 179
Scarves 67
Mittens/Gloves/Wrist Warmers: 45
Slippers: 50+13=63
Rain Poncho's:  53
Cotton Washcloths: 109
Afghans: 6
Socks: 126
Cowls 12
Shawls 1
Misc: items like personal care and things don't fit into above categories aren't counted

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.

Donation

Day #4, A-Z challenge = D= Donation.

What is a donation?  Google says it's a noun, it's origin is Latin, and it means the act of giving, especially to a charity, a contribution.  Our donations from Bridge and Beyond  for those living outside in the elements, those living day to day in various shelters give hope.  My google search tells me a Butterfly is the symbol for Hope.  I believe we give hope as well as physical warmth with our donations of hand crafted items.  Being cold, hungry...a person needs hope.

Many people immediately think of money when someone says the word donation.  Donations can be varied.  Donations can be money, they can be time, they can be products, they can be a combination of all 3.  We don't collect or donate money here on Bridge and Beyond.  We do donate our time...the time it takes to knit or crochet a hat, the time it takes to read or write blog posts, the time it takes to read or write blog comments.  We also donate products...ie, the finished work....the hat, the scarf or pair of mittens.  We donate personal care items and socks, those too are products.

Some folks may have the ability to donate more, some don't.  It's not the volume that's important, it's that we donate.  And truly every bit of it, every completed work, every minute of time spent...it all counts for something good.

Can you donate?  You don't have to be able to knit or crochet to donate.  You can donate socks, and or personal care items.  You can donate yarn, or postage to a friend who's donating through knitting and crocheting.  You can donate your time to read and posts comments to support those who are knitting and crocheting, you can help spread the word.  Please do what you can.  Please donate to those less fortunate, if not here on Bridge and Beyond, locally.  Every donation matters to someone!

Thank you AnneMarie for this awesome donation of personal care items.  What a fabulous donation.  These are all Avon products she purchased from our other good friend, Sherry K.  What a win win donation.  Personal Care items are needed all year long for men, and women.  Those in shelters as well as those living out in the elements are always in need.

Keep up the good work AnneMarie from New York!

2015 DONATIONS:
Hats: 179
Scarves 67
Mittens/Gloves/Wrist Warmers: 45
Slippers: 50
Rain Poncho's:  53
Cotton Washcloths: 109
Afghans: 6
Socks: 126
Cowls 12
Shawls 1
Misc: items like personal care and things don't fit into above categories aren't counted

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.

What is Crochet

 This afghan, titled Blue Sky

And this afghan titled Purple Iris are crocheted and on their way to our friend Sarah S to be assembled.  This won't be the easiest of jobs, as you can see the squares aren't the same size, in fact a few in Blue Sky are rectangles and not squares; but she has graciously agreed to lend me a helping hand by putting these together.  Thrilled to have some help on that score.  Many thanks Sarah, we're all looking forward to seeing the end products.

 Today's A-Z challenge is C.  C=crochet.  The two afghan above will be assembled then donated as part of our project for "Welcome Home".  Crocheted and knitted afghans are donated to Homeless Families Foundation discussed in the A post Here

**For new readers, I always name the afghans, based on what they look like.  And when I get stumped some of the good folks who donate to Bridge and Beyond turn their creative juices on and help with the naming as well.

So what is crochet...well wiki says:

Crochet (English pronunciation: /kroʊˈʃeɪ/;^[1] French: [kʁɔʃɛ]^[2]) is a process of creating fabric from yarn, thread, or other material strands using a crochet hook.^[3] The word is derived from the French word "crochet", meaning hook. Hooks can be made of materials such as metals, woods, or plastic and are commercially manufactured as well as produced by artisans. 

Some folks get confused about crochet vs knitting.  Crochet is as stated above a hook...knitting is 2 needles.

I learned to crochet when I was very young, about 7 I think from a friends Grandmother.  My friend Pam's Grandmother made magical things from string...that's what it seemed like to me.  I'd sit beside her and watch, and probably drove the poor woman nuts with all kinds of questions.  Then one day...she handed me a red plastic crochet hook and a ball of mint green yarn and proceeded to show me how to make a dollie.  I'm sure it was lovely, lol.  Anyway, it's a fond memory and I was very proud of that green dollie....no clue what happened to it though.  Mom probably, being a good Mother used it until I lost interest, lol

I didn't crochet anything else until years later when my husband was working and going to college.  I had a lot of alone time, time on my hands and decided I needed a hobby.  I think the next thing I made was 

a green vest, very similar to the blue one in this old hippie pattern.  In fact, I think I had this pattern book, or at very least I actually remember looking at it.  Thankfully my skills have improved and what you can make with crocheting has improved.  The yarn now available is 100% better then what used to be available.  AND, it's very popular again, it's not just for Grandma's.

2015 DONATIONS:
Hats: 179
Scarves 67
Mittens/Gloves/Wrist Warmers: 45
Slippers: 50
Rain Poncho's:  53
Cotton Washcloths: 109
Afghans: 6
Socks: 126
Cowls 12
Shawls 1
Misc: items like personal care and things don't fit into above categories aren't counted


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.

Bridge and Beyond, Behind the Scenes

Bridge and Beyond Behind the Scenes.  Lots of B's in the title, after all today is April 2, the day for a B post for the A-Z Challenge.

As of the writing of this scheduled post, there have been 1448 published posts here on Bridge and Beyond.  The blogs mission is caring for the homeless through knitting and crocheting.  The first blog post was written on December 2, 2008.  A few days later, one of our original participants, sunniefairy (Andrea), made our logo for us.  The logo has remained these 9 years later and will continue to be our blog badge.

Originally I titled the blog as The Bridge Project, homeless living under the bridge was the first focus.  As donations grew, which they did quickly...we were able to care for a shelter.  As time went on, we continued to grow and added other shelters in need, schools in need and more.  The name was change to Bridge and Beyond.  We were helping those beyond the bridge, so it seemed appropriate.

We supplied knitted, and crocheted items such as hats, scarves, mittens, and slippers.  Again with growth we added the personal care items, cotton washcloths, rain poncho's, afghans, and socks to our our donation list.

This is the first scarf I made and donated back in 2008, using up odds and ends of yarn in my stash.

Bunny (Lynda G) was the first person to donate.  Her donation was received on December 9th, 2008.  So, in a matter of 1 wk, we were on our way to being a "group".  The power of one is truly awesome, and when people join ranks, great things can be accomplished.  Bridge and Beyond has been a grass roots charity now for 8 years.  If you knit or crochet, please help us.  If you don't, tell a friend about us.  AND, you can help without knitting or crocheting by donating personal care items and store bought socks.  Each item we collect has a tab across the top of the blog with necessary information.

2015 DONATIONS:
Hats: 179
Scarves 67
Mittens/Gloves/Wrist Warmers: 45
Slippers: 50
Rain Poncho's:  53
Cotton Washcloths: 109
Afghans: 6
Socks: 126
Cowls 12
Shawls 1
Misc: items like personal care and things don't fit into above categories aren't counted


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.

Afghans, Family Heirlooms

 Meet Great Aunt Viola and her husband Harry.  They were married back in 1932, 83 years ago.  Notice the afghan to Viola's right...the left side of my old picture.

 This is Great Aunt Viola's Mother, Mary Florence, my Great-Great Grandmother who was born 4 days before the start of The Civil War in 1861.  Mary Florence crocheted that afghan.  Likely 83 years ago as a wedding present for her daughter, Viola.  Though it's possible, she made it before or after that; that's a logical conclusion given family history.

That afghan was made by my Great-Great Grandmother, used by her daughter, my Great-Aunt, given to my Dad and used alot!  And now I have the honor of owning it.

Though it's in need of some repair, it's still around and is probably at least 83 years old!  Afghans, knitted or crocheted are family heirlooms and carry a-lot of sentiment and meaning.  We here on Bridge and Beyond knit and crochet afghans to bring meaning, and hope to those less fortunate.  We donate our Afghans to Homeless Families Foundation as a way to say congratulations and best of luck.  Congratulations because they have moved forward, they are transitioning from shelter living to their permanent living situation.  That's certainly something to celebrate and commemorate.  We also hope these afghans we make and donate give them hope for a brighter future, to know someone cares for them, and made something special for them.  We hope the afghans we donate carry a special meaning to those who receive them, must like this special afghan does for me and my family.

Today is the first day of the annual A-Z Challenge for the month of April A=Afghan.  Welcome to those in the challenge who may be seeing this blog for the first time.  The blog is dedicated to helping the homeless through knitting and crocheting.

**We call this project, "Welcome Home", you can use those words and or afghans in the search box to see some of the afghans that have been donated in the past.

2015 DONATIONS:
Hats: 179
Scarves 67
Mittens/Gloves/Wrist Warmers: 45
Slippers: 50
Rain Poncho's:  53
Cotton Washcloths: 109
Afghans: 6
Socks: 126
Cowls 12
Shawls 1
Misc: items like personal care and things don't fit into above categories aren't counted

This is the starting portion of the 2nd square to "Learning Logs", my regular readers will remember the fits this ghan has given me, but.....I can say things are improving with the various changes I've made to the pattern.  Comparison to square #1 is HERE

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.