Mission Statement

Operations for Bridge and Beyond will cease on Dec 31, 2021, last mailing date should be Dec 24th

GOAL FOR AFGHANS

Afghans
Goal: 30
Start: #24
Current: 26
0.8666%
START
END

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Crochet Scarves Help Warm Homeless in Need

Thank you Sandie P for these two interesting scarves.  I love the fun colors.  This is a type of yarn that changes folks vs changing yarn and tucking edges.  Oh how I love that idea.  Would knitting or crocheting with this yarn be fun in making an afghan?  Well...really in anything, but I think especially in an afghan where you really don't know when it's changing on you.  Sandie says this yarn is Yarn Bee Sugar Wheel.  I've not seen it at the stores, but am going to make a point to look for it..........like I need more yarn, lol.  Sandie says it comes in 7 oz skeins and has lots of different color combinations to pick from.

Sandie has been a long time supporter of Bridge and Beyond, perhaps the very first one.  If not the first pretty close to that from my memory.  Thank you Sandie for your longevity.  Folks you can pop over to Sandie's blog, it's listed in my blog list on the right hand sidebar.  She's posted several variations of this fun yarn with recent projects.  Check it out.

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.

Monday, January 8, 2018

Knitted Hats and Scarves for the Homeless

Thank you Karen S for this wonderful donation of warm hats with a scarf that matches 2 of the hats.  Thank you also for tagging your hats with size, that is such a benefit--both to me and to all the volunteers at the various shelters.  It aids the item getting on the right shelf; which in turns gets necessary items into the hands of those in need quicker.

Folks you may have noticed the new progress bars in the right hand sidebar.  I'm hoping this will help us see where we are in relation to where we would like to be...to meet our goal of donated items for the homeless that Bridge and Beyond serves.  However, I have discovered that I need to add the numbers to the progress bars when I'm typing the blog posts.  99% of the time, the posts are written and scheduled to post later.  I often type several posts in one sitting and have them scheduled to post even if I'm not sitting here on the computer.  So, the downside of this new system is that what you see in the progress bars reflects whenever I last wrote blog posts, and will typically be ahead of the posts you're reading.  Example.  Yesterday's post, this one and the next 2 are being written...so the numbers for those 4 blog posts are reflected in the numbers in the progress bars.  I'm currently going to try and figure the percentages out once a week, to keep from prefiguring the percentage with each blog post I write.  I had thought, the percentages would be automatically updated, but apparently the html code doesn't do that.

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.

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Knitted Slippers, Has, and Mittens for the Homeless

Knitted warmth!  Look at the variety here folks.  Slippers in several different sizes and colors to help warm cold feet..........hats for the kiddo's is lots of cute styles, a couple of cowls..........and drum roll for ....you guessed it........MITTENS!  And who knitted and donated all these goodies?  Sue F!  Many thanks Sue for remember us here on Bridge and Beyond.  Extra thanks for tagging slippers and hats and mittens with size. 

I have the trunk of my car all loaded up, as I type this blog post so I can make deliveries on Monday to Homeless Families Foundations.

Sadly the very top of picture is cut off a bit, as there are several hats you can just barely see there in the picture.  Wished I had noticed that before tossing those 5 bags of donations in my car, I could have re-taken the picture; but no clue which bag they are in, or if they are all in the same bag.  Luckily, my note tells me how many of everything so I plug in the number to our progress bars on the right.

Folks these progress bars are new, and not so far the easiest thing to use.  If any of you bloggers know a different style, I would love to know.  Likewise, if anyone knows how to change the default font on the blog.  Some of the functionality seems to be gone that used to be available.  I keep changing the font with each blog post I write, as I don't like the blog default one.......very small and not clean--straight forward looking at this one.  Sing out if you have some thoughts on these two blogging issues.  THanks!!

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.

Saturday, January 6, 2018

Warm Crocheted Hats for the Homeless

Our first exciting donation of the year, 2018!  Super warm (double thickness) crocheted hats from our good friend Barbara F from New York.  Nice color selection, people the women will enjoy not only the comfort, but the style of these crocheted donated hats.  Barbara has added nicely made size tags to her donation.  The size tags aid the volunteers at the various homeless shelters.  Many thanks Barbara for your dedication to Bridge and Beyond, your truly appreciated.

Folks, we're going to try a new counting system for this year.  Please notice all the goal counters in the right sidebar, as well as the one centered above this post.  I will probably rotate the one centered above this post (just started with Afghan, as it's an A and the start of the alphabet.  Doing so, seems to help the spacing with our new formatted blog.  The numbers I've used for our goals for the coming year, are the averages of our last 5 years of donations.....you'll see that number when you look at the chart by clicking on the stats link below.

If you've not had a chance, please read the posts about our Stats, as well as the post about how we can help the homeless and others in need.  There really are many ways of helping, when perhaps you're too busy to knit or crochet; as well as ways of helping if you're not a knitter or crocheter.

Also, don't miss our impressive list of whom to thank!

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.

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

How Can You Help the Homeless?



Since it's early in our new year, 2018, thought I'd post some ideas.  These ideas are ways you can help the homeless.  Maybe you've been here to the blog, Bridge and Beyond before; but have forgotten ways to help the homeless.........maybe you're new to reading this blog.  In either case, here's some ideas of things you can do to make life better for a homeless Man, Women, or Child.


  • If you knit, or crochet or loom...the most obvious way to help is to knit, crochet, or loom hats, scarves, mittens, slippers, and afghans.
  • If you don't knit, crochet or loom, but know someone who does ....buy them yarn to encourage them to knit, crochet or loom something to donate to Bridge and Beyond.
  • If you don't knit, crochet or loom, and don't know the first thing about buying yarn, offer to pay postage for someone who does knit, crochet or loom and would make and donate something for Bridge and Beyond.
  • Whether you knit, crochet, or loom or not..........visit the blog daily.  Why?  How does that help?  It helps traffic to the blog, which helps with the search engine optimization of the blog, which helps more people find us easier when searching for charities to knit, crochet or loom for.
  • Take your blog visit a step farther, leave a comment.  Why?  The more time spent on the blog also aids the search engine optimization (SEO), and it encourages others to leave comments.  If you're a blogger you can leave your name and url to your blog.  Please leave the blog url, not a google+page url.  I'll return the visit, but can't if you're google+
  • Regardless of whether or not you're a knitter, crocheter, or loomer or not......spread the word by sharing the link to the blog in your email contacts, and on your social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc.
  • If you knit, crochet, or loom in public (planes, lunch at work, etc) have a card or two with you with the name and url of the blog.  Why?  People often ask what you're making when you're knitting, crocheting and or looming in public, right?  When they do tell them what you're making and why........offer them the card so they can check out the blog
  • What is the url?  http://homelessbridge.blogspot.com/    you can also tell them to google Bridge and Beyond.
  • Share the link to the Facebook Group    https://www.facebook.com/groups/246918975439091/?ref=bookmarks
  • If you are not a knitter, crocheter or loomer, you can help by collecting personal care items which are needed all year long.  They are needed in Summer, Spring, Fall, and Winter.  You can buy personal care items, or you can collect items from hotels when you and your friends and family travel.
  • Socks......store bought socks are always needed.  You don't need to be a knitter, crocheter, or loomer to donate socks.  Socks for men is the primary need.  When living outdoors the danger of wet cold feet is very real.  To have warm dry socks to change into can help keep people alive.

**Did you see our donation stats for the last 5 years?
----Thank you to those who donated in 2017

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.

Monday, January 1, 2018

Thank you !

Today is January 1, 2018.  Bridge and Beyond began in December of 2009, reflections and donation totals for the previous 5 years were posted as my last post of the year 2017, and can be found HERE.  Please do take time to read the post if you haven't already, and add your thoughts.

As we kick off the year 2018, I wanted to again thank everyone who donated during the year 2017 to help the homeless and those in need.  If you're new to the blog, we're always looking for new pairs of helping hands.

Thank you to:

AnneMarie
Ann M
Barbara F
Barbara H
Beth G
Beverly S
Bianca C
Bruce B
Carol W
Christina D
Christine H
Cindy K
Connor W
Cynthia B
Dad
DeeAnn H
Delores M
Donna 
Donna S
Ella S
Emily K
Emma P
Felicity
Gail B
Girl Scouts
Jane B
Jane C
Jason D
Joy D
Juli B
Julian G
Karla T
Karen S
Laurin A
Linda S
Lisa N
Lisa Z
Maggie P
Maria Z
Marsha M
Mary D
Melinda G
Melissa P
Nikki S
Patty C
Paulette J
Phyllis G
Ruth A
Sandie P
Sandra
Sandra R
Sarah S
Shelby M
Sue S
Susie J
Verlene

I hope I didn't miss anyone, as I went back through all the tags/labels on the posts to pick up names.  If I did, my apologizes.

As I type, I've been working on an afghan which I hope to have finished very soon.  Wanted to try and get one more done by the close of 2017, and it just didn't happen.  What are you all working on?

I leave you with a quote from a comment on the previous reflections post that seems very appropriate.

 "There will always be people in need, so if everyone would just make one more hat, scarf or pair of mittens we would have a great new year."

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 are You and Your Yarn From?

I'm trying to identify where everyone is from, partially for fun. Take a look at the map. Also, believe it will aid me in cases where we have several people with the same name. Please look at the lists of bloggers and non bloggers and see if I have the state you hail from. If not, please leave a comment and let me know.

Additionally, we've had help from Scotland, England, Germany Puerto Rico, Canada, and France! They don't appear on the map, but their help is still greatly appreciated.

Where The People Who Donate Come From, is your state represented?