Monday, June 20, 2011

Places Needing Blessings

While attempting to gather volunteers, it has been important to me to them know where the items they've made will be donated.  Spending hours making an item by hand, when you know you might never meet the recipient, takes a big heart.  Making an item for a stranger is a selfless act, and the reward is the feeling of absolute rightness.  What a privilege it is to have the talent to create, and know you can bring an anonymous blessing to someone you don't even know.
As the founder of Crafting Blessings, I have attempted to make contact with some local cancer centers, hospitals, and shelters.  I'm starting out small for now - not knowing how many volunteers or blessings I'll be able to collect.  The good thing about this area is, there's no shortage of centers to seek assistance for medical or financial challenges.  We can start contributing to a few, and branch out to other centers as the donations start pouring in.  Something I'm looking forward to!
To begin with, we'll be dropping chemo hats off at a NC Cancer Treatment Center near Wake Med Cary.  Wake Med can also use chemo hats in addition to baby items - not to mention items for all other patients.  And for other items that are made for winter warmth, the Raleigh Rescue Mission will gladly accept donations.
As the collection grows, we'll be able to also donate to UNC Hospitals.  UNC Hospitals can use chemo hats, hats for burn victims, preemie / newborn, and all ages after.
There will be no shortage of centers we can shower with blessings.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Gathering Resources

Since the outreach program is only going to be local, I thought to make contact with some nationally known charity organizations to help get the word out to those interested in making donations. 
The first one I approached was Sue Thompson of Head Huggers Organization.  Being a satellite group for Head Huggers, I will be collecting handmade hats for chemo and burn patients, newborns, other patients, and for others in need.  Basically - hats for anyone facing medical or financial issues.
The other organization I contacted was Care Wear.  Bonnie Hagerman gave me the ok to collect and distribute on behalf of Care Wear.  On behalf of Care Wear we will be donating handmade items for patients of all ages - newborns, children, youths, adults, seniors.
Another source I contacted was Bev Qualheim of Bev's Country Cottage.  Bev has a wonderful website loaded with tons of information on anything handmade for charity.
Having these three on our side is a great start in setting up this community outreach program.  Using these resources, we'll be able to reach out and spread blessings to so many people in the community.
Stay tuned to find out the centers I've contacted that would love to receive donations of our handmade blessings.