We Still Need 4 Quilts For Colorado Dispatchers...Completed!

As Christmas approaches I would like to ask those of you who may have large quilt stashes to pray about reaching into those and choosing perhaps your very favorite that you do not use and think about giving it to one of the 4 dispatchers that are still trying to move forward with their lives after the Colorado floods.

Unlike many of us, dispatchers go to work during these disasters, they put their own lives on the back burner, they place their children with friends or family members and they go to work, because it is what they do and who they are.

Their jobs matter and trust me when I say few can do those jobs and even fewer still want to do those jobs. I have taken calls from spouses who just woke up to find the body of their lifeless spouse after 50 years of marriage, from spouses who came home to find their spouse had committed suicide, parents whose babies passed from SIDS, people who just witnessed a horrible accident and cannot do anything to help.

I have heard the desperation in a police officers voice when they realize what they are doing will not help and yet, they must try.  I have talked people out of killing themselves and talked to scared children whose parents were beating each other up.

I went to work everyday, I loved my job and yet, it took a toll on me in ways I didn't realize until now. It took my hearing, it took my physical health and at times my mental health.

We do it because we are good at it, because we know not everyone can do it and we do it many times without thanks, without days off after a major incident, we do it because we know we are the life line between life and death many times.

Many of you have never had to call 911, never experienced a disaster or known anyone else who has. But if you ever do, you will be glad that dispatcher was there calm and reassuring and then only then will you realize how much a quilt means to them as they meant to you.

I know quilters that have closets, cabinets and storage areas full of beautiful award winning quilts and they are just sitting on a shelf somewhere. When I ask about them, I hear the same thing most of the time, 'I spent to much time working on this to just give it away to a stranger.'

How would you feel if one day you needed a dispatcher and they said, 'I spend to much time helping strangers with things like this to help you right now, good-bye?'  Of course that would never ever happen, but how would you feel if you could help someone and you didn't?

Christmas is a time of year that is stressful for many of us and now imagine that stress compounded because your home couldn't be lived in due to flooding. The greatest gift these dispatchers receive sometimes are a quilt from a complete stranger.

Maybe not your favorite quilt, but a quilt you feel would make someone happy.  If you go to the page with our needs, you will see 4 names of dispatchers in need. Please consider making or donating a quilt to one of these 4.

Blessings to you all and thank you for making 2013 a year to remember!

Let It Snow!

I know many of you live in areas where you are under snow almost the entire winter season. However, I lived in Phoenix, Arizona for over 22 years where snow or even winter chill was unheard of.

So please forgive me for saying snow makes me very happy, almost giddy and I love it!

This is what I woke up to this morning!

 

Colorado Quilts On Their Way

These are 3 quilts I finished up this past week. Once again I was blessed by someone making the tops and backs and sent me the batting so all I did was the quilting and binding.

These are all going to one family in Colorado who lost their homes to the floods. I was going to hold onto them until I had the 4th one completed, but think I will just pop them in the mail this week and work on the 4th one this week!

It was originally sent to me as one very long (over 8' long) childs quilt which I cut into 2 quilts and think it really gave them 2 separate looks. They are for a 7 & 10 year old and both are over 4' long so I really feel they will be a great quilt for both of the boys!

Thank you to Joanne H. for such a wonderful blessing!

 

Please Consider Giving To Us This Christmas Season

So many of you give and give to this organization already that I feel bad asking for more especially since I know your mail boxes must be full of people asking for money for any number of charities.

I am asking you to please consider giving to us to help me complete the design for Layers of Hope and all the stuff that goes with setting up this great organization as well as changing to another site as Blogger isn't always reliable.

We are at 41% of our goal for doing this and I am not asking you to jump in and finish us to 100%, all I am asking is that if you can afford it, can you help us with $5 or $10?

In the past I have asked people to collect change for 15 to 30 days and give that to Layers of Hope.  Trust me, everything helps.

Thank you!

Is One Charity Better Than Another?

My grandmother was a person who taught me about volunteering and giving back to others and she made and gave away beautiful coats to children in need.  Grams also volunteered for the Ladies Republican committee and where she could that was close to home because she didn't drive.

When I got older she had me volunteer for a local hospital as a Candy Striper and a school for disabled children during my lunch hour at the school next door.

As I got older, I volunteered for the PTA, Scouts, Women's Organizations, etc.  and it has never been in me to just sit and not reach out.

I donate to Angel Tree, Deborah Heart Institute, Saint Judes, Shriner's Hospitals, etc. and I take unwanted items to the local Hospice second hand store, give gently used clothing and coats from the kids to the schools for the children in need. I do not give anything with a hole, a tear, a stain!

We all see disasters and the organizations that jump in and help like the Red Cross, World Vision, Catholic Charities, Christian Relief Services, Peacecorps, Americorps, etc.

Then there are smaller organizations in our communities from our churches to Love Inc., Community Action Programs, Rural projects that donate food to their communities, gardening plots to help feed people.

There are so many, we never know who to donate to or in my case I never have enough time or money to help everyone I want to help or who have helped me over the years.

Then there are smaller organizations dedicated to comforting and keeping people warm such as:

• Warming Families - A charity that encourages quilters to make quilts for those that are homeless in their area.
• Binky Patrol - an all volunteer, national, non-profit organization making and distributing homemade blankets to children born HIV+, drug-addicted, infected with AIDS or other chronic & terminal illnesses, those who are abused, in foster care or experiencing trauma of any kind. Our recipients are from 0-18. 
• Project Linus - Provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers.”
• 100 Club -  dedicated to standing behind the men and women who stand behind the badge. For more than 40 years, the 100 Club has provided assistance to statewide public safety agencies, officers, firefighters, paramedics, and their families.

 I could go on and on but I think we all get the picture that if there is something or someone you are looking to help, you will most likely be able to find an organization to help that pet project or concern of yours.

We become arrogant when we believe their is ONLY ONE organization that can help everyone.  Because no matter how hard anyone tries, the truth is one organization cannot do it all and many do not want to do it all. From the ASPCA to the Red Cross, each have created their own niche in the world.

A quilting friend of mine who has a heart the size of her long arm machine has given freely of her time, skills, money and training to help Layers of Hope and the people in the Philippines, Binky Patrol and more.

Many times she engages her students to reaching out and helping and in turn they are learning skills such as sewing, quilting, shipping, measure twice and cut once, etc..

Imagine when one of her honor students came in and said another teacher, an economics teacher of all things, told them they should not be making quilts or stuffed animals or collecting anything for the people of the Philippines because that should be left up to the Red Cross.

He went further to tell them that those of us who quilt and send things are only 'Feel Good Charities,' and nothing we send will help the people in the Philippines. Only Red Cross can do that.

I was dismayed to hear that a teacher would say such discouraging things to his students and about others who do so much to reach out around the world to comfort a stranger.

The teacher friend asked him about it and he told her that he would not back down because he believes these are a waste of time having himself served in the Peace Corps.

I wonder if he has ever spoken to a child who has been bitterly cold and received a warm blanket if it made a difference. I wonder if he ever spoke to a child who lost its favorite toy in a flood how that little stuffed animal made them happier.  I wonder if he has ever talked to a child while its parents were trying to kill each other and when the child comes into a police department crying...how that stuffed animal they are clinging to makes them feel.

If you just pack up blankets and animals and ship off to no one in particular, you may not be helping, but when you have a contact asking for these things, then yes sir, we are doing a good thing for those wherever they are and whatever crisis they are going through and so are her students.

From what I could see, she had at least 10 large boxes packed up and heading to the post office for shipping to the Philippines on Monday. Don't tell the people that will share in the blankets or the children that will share in the animals they don't matter.

Red Cross's issue is they are a huge organization, they have a CEO who commands a huge salary, employee's that need to get paid, overhead, policies and procedures and that all adds up to red tape, miles and miles of it.

However, there are other organizations who can hit the disaster areas running and be there on scene within a few short hours to a few days and they are equally as important...whether they be providing food, medical, water or even something like TIDE does with portable laundry facilities, everyone works to help.

I hope these students do not become discouraged. I hope they know they are making a difference, each one of us who chooses to can and will be able to whether it is a stuffed animal, a quilt, a box filled with hand sanitizer, fresh socks, coloring books to occupy children or even M&M's, all of it helps to brighten the day of someone who just perhaps days ago was living their life happily and now are walking around in shock!

I hope this teacher realizes not all of Red Cross funding gets distributed as quickly as it should because it has to go through channels and those channels at times clog up.

I do not advocate sending your dirty socks, ratty shoes and purses, etc. to a disaster area, have a heart and give, but give what you would want to receive and never tell someone trying to help that they aren't when if you aren't in the mix of the mess, you don't really know! 

Never, ever just put things in a box and ship to anyone in a disaster area. Have a plan, have a contact, find someone who has contacts and can help and if you are sending money, verify the agency you are sending the money to is legitimate.

Discouraging these children is taking away their blessing. They want to reach out and help others, they want to make a difference, we should not discourage that in our young people!

Another Quilt For Someone Enduring Chemo

Sorry about the blur, I had 2 wiggly and giggly 12 year old girls helping to hold it up! 

Midwest Tornadoes

I have not been asked at this time to supply quilts for dispatchers in the Midwest, but if I do, I will post it in the pages at the top of the home page.

We still have quilts to get out to the Colorado dispatchers and their families as well as I am in desperate need at this time for assistance with postage.

If you can help with postage or want to contribute to getting this page up and running, please check out the side bar where I am accepting donations.

I realize it is holiday season, but any amount you can help with is so appreciated and so needed and I am grateful for!