The finish line is in sight

Just two weeks to go.
After three months of work, here we are with just two weeks left before we can do some more good in the world.
And that's a nice thing, right?
I stressed for three months that we would be able to meet our goals, that 20 quilts and 105 hygiene kits and 20 lifeboxes -- all to benefit Livingston County Social Services -- were attainable goals.
Goals met, folks. Our count for Sat., Sept. 26 will be: 120 Hygiene kits for LCSS Adult Employment Division AND 50 hygiene kits for the Geneseo Groveland Food Pantry. That was an extra just because we had so much donated! We have almost 50 lifeboxes completely STUFFED and ready to decorate. We will have over 30 quilts to tie and bind. I am amazed and grateful at the hard work and generosity of so many who have made this project possible.
And the little miracles keep coming.
Today, a call from St. Lukes that they have MORE items for the project!! This after we stopped collecting!
Last week, we were short some items for hygiene kits and quilt batting. We had enough donated money to cover one or the other, but not both. Then, out of the blue, someone made an anonymous $100 donation -- exactly what we needed to cover our batting costs. A miracle.
Our life boxes are brimming, but were lacking in some of the crucial actual scrapbook materials. Nancy Gorton, of Nunda, offered to use her craft machine to make scrap booking die cut-filled baggies for the boxes. She's done 100 baggies full--two per box. Again, a miracle. Last week, a retired teacher in Geneseo donated about 80 books for the boxes. Miracles all around.
At the end of the day, all these items will be used by someone who needs them. Someone down on their luck will be able to clean themselves up and take some steps toward a better life. A child will be able to create memories. And for some reason, lately, I've been thinking about those quilts.
Of all the things we're doing, I keep thinking those quilts will be the thing that last the longest. Nothing will ever make right the problems that place a child in foster care. Stitched with love, though,maybe a blanket can ease the pain a bit. Maybe?
I don't know, but I hope so. I want it to.
And as always, we just need hands. All hands on deck, so they say. As many as possible to fill and decorate, tie and chat. Come meet someone new, serve in your community. We'll need all the help we can get Sat., Sept. 26 at 10 a.m. to get everything done.

Sorting day success

Today's sorting day was such a success, I have to admit I was a little stunned by it. Our goals were ambitious: multiple women's groups collect items over the summer for a service project to benefit Livingston County Social Services. We were told over and over we had our work cut out for us. We did, and we still do! But today, a group from Livingston County Mommies met to sort through hygiene kit and life box items we've been collecting for three months and holy cow! Goals met and exceeded!

And can I say many hands really DO make light work? I was grateful and even surprised by how many items we had donated. In the middle of the sorting, Bert DiFranco from St. Luke's dropped off another five large bags of items, including a huge bag of brand new beanie babies for the life boxes. Our goal for those boxes was to fill 20 of them. They are given to foster children when they enter foster care and filled with items that will help get them record their milestones in foster care. They also include other small things like socks, toys, etc. I was concerned that we would not have enough to fill our 20 boxes. Some people were concerned that we would not have enough shoe boxes. The verdict after sorting: 45 life boxes, which we filled with the help of some of the little folks. Amazing. I was worried about...???


On the hygiene kit front, Tammy with LCMommies thinks we will be able to do 120 hygiene kits for social services and 50 for the local food pantry...that's above and beyond our goal! I had hoped that there would be enough product left over to resupply the food pantry with hygiene kits and I'm so grateful we will be able to do that again. We need to purchase/have donated several more items, of course (toilet paper anyone, about 170 rolls?) but some cash donations we received will go a long way toward filling that goal!

On the quilt front, Rachel reports we have 15 quilts with backs actually in our possession. There are several more quilts coming in so we see ourselves heading way over our goal of 20. Again, we are thrilled. We do have a desperate need for batting, but other than that, we are set!

What's next? Maybe another week and a half of begging for a few more donations. (Did I mention batting and toilet paper?) And then on to Sept. 26, where we will need YOUR helping hands to pull this project together.

Did I mention we're having lunch that day? There may be goulash involved? And baked potatoes? And chili?

And quilts to tie and bind?

And boxes to decorate?

And hygiene kit bags to fill?

May hands will make light work!

A reminder of items we still need

This is the last week we are collecting supplies for the Sept. 26 service project. We may need more supplies, but we will know just how much after the Livingston County Mommies' host their Sept. 1 sorting day!

In the meantime, here is a reminder of what we still need:

Goal: 20 twin-sized quilt tops. Any quilt color is fine, but quilts of generic color that can be used for a boy or girl are appreciated! The quilts will be tied together and bound on Sept. 26.

We need:
* Thanks to everyone who donated fabric. We think our quilt top goal has been met. We still have fabric that could be turned into quilt tops if anyone is interested.
* Batting for 20 quilts
* Also, backing...muslin? sheets?
* Pins, yarn and large needles to tie them!

Goal: 20 Life Boxes. These boxes give a child a chance to record memories of milestones that may be otherwise forgotten, especially if they spend years in foster care.

We need:

* 20 adult-sized shoe boxes
* Markers, erasers, stickers, glue sticks, paper,
* Any scrap booking supplies.
* Disposable cameras
* Reading books of various age levels, stuffed animals, socks, toothbrushes.
*Any small thing that could make children of various ages living in a rough situation a little more comfortable.
*Items to decorate the outside of the boxes, stickers, fun magazine page cutouts, foam stickers, stickers, wrapping paper, spray paint, etc.

Goal: 105 (or more!) hygiene kits for Livingston County Social Services adult employment division and local food pantries. These kits will mainly serve area adults who are in a tight spot and need a little help looking presentable for their job searches. These items bridge a gap for people who are without while they are between jobs and public assistance.

We need to collect:

Items for 35 kits for men:
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Bar of soap
Hand sanitizer
Small deodorant
Small shaving cream
Two razors
Comb
One roll toilet paper
Small hand sanitizer
Travel diaper wipes/wet wipes
Travel or small sized shampoo and conditioner
Small laundry soap/softener


Items for 35 kits for women:
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Bar of soap
Hand sanitizer
Small deodorant
One razor
Comb
One roll toilet paper
Small hand sanitizer
Travel diaper wipes/wet wipes
Feminine hygiene products
Travel or small sized shampoo and conditioner
Small laundry soap/softener

Items for 35 kits for children:
Children’s toothbrush
Children’s toothpaste
Bar of soap
Hand sanitizer
Comb
One roll toilet paper
Small hand sanitizer
Travel diaper wipes/wet wipes
Travel or small sized children’s shampoo
Small laundry soap/softener
If possible, infants/childrens Tylenol or similar

These will be put in homemade cloth bags or other donated bags. We have 50 and will need 55 more.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Extra supplies will be turned into hygiene kits for area food pantries, which contain:
2 packaged toothbrushes
1 tube toothpaste
1 bar soap
1 small deodorant
1 bottle hand sanitizer
2 small packages Kleenex
travel shampoo/conditioner (if we have extra)
a one-gallon, sealable bag.

Most importantly we will need YOUR HELPING HANDS to pull it all together!

All items or monetary donations to purchase other supplies are due for sorting by Sun., Aug. 30.
Questions?
Contact Amanda Lonsberry 658-4004 or amanda@lonsberry.com

or Tammy Hainey, 658-3835 or tammy76@rochester.rr.com

Good news and sewing party info...

The best news of the day came from our community partner, StSt. Luke the Evangelist Parish of Geneseo. My contact there, Roberta DiFranco, asked me to come pick up their first week's donations for hygiene kits of more than four large bags! Yeah St. Luke's!!! THANK YOU!!

The Tues., Aug. 18 sewing party, a simple attempt to get ladies together to help cut and sew spare fabric into or hygiene kit bags, will be held at 7555 Mt. Morris-Nunda Road at 6:30 p.m. for anyone interested in quilting with us. Email amanda@lonsberry.com for more information.

A wrinkle in the plan...

Tuesday night's sewing party at a church in Geneseo is being moved to a personal home. Today was our congregation's first day in the new building and it turns out, we have just have a temporary certificate of occupancy for Sunday only. They are still fixing a few things in the church and until then, no non-Sunday activities. :( Which means we are homeless for a large group quilting party this month.

The Sept. 26 event does not appear to be in danger. However, for those interested, we will still be getting together Tuesday to try to do some group work on some quilt tops and hygiene kit bags. I will post an address as soon as I have it confirmed.

Thanks for your interest!

Quilting party Tues., Aug. 18

Don't forget to get out your spare or unused fabric and join us Tues., Aug. 18 at 6:30 p.m. for a quilting party at the new LDS Church chapel on South St. in Geneseo. Now, I know some of you are thinking, "But I don't quilt." Me neither. I am proficient in straight lines and have little patience for quilting. The point is, we will need MANY hands to lighten our load. For instance, you might not be able to sew, but could you help cut out fabric? Do you want to learn more about sewing? We will have some pretty knowledgeable folks on hand. And dessert. Don't forget the dessert.

I've been working on taking scrap fabric from our closet at church and turning it into a quilt. The hardest part was figuring out what kind of a pattern I could make with fabric I had. As I am no mathematician, this was not easy. In fact, the more I work on this quilting project, the more I realize that for some people, quilting is not a factory, line 'em up, get 'em done sort of thing.

The other day, I was speaking with Betsy Matthews of Geneseo's Central Presbyterian Church. She and some of her friends are working on at least one quilt top for this project. She asked me how we planned to bind the quilts. Well, I figured we'd just roll the backing and sew them up. Betsy HAND BINDS her quilts. She has been working on a queen-sized one for FIVE YEARS. That is amazing dedication.

In previous generations, women were noted for their quilt work. A nice stitch was a matter of pride, a busy hand curbed idleness. Old clothing was scrap cloth. New cloth was named and shared. Quilting has a long and varied history and is in its own right a beautiful art form.

Unfortunately, the best I can do is aim straight and pour a lot of love in it. Love. Service. They go hand-in-hand. Join us Tuesday to help us get a jump on our quilt tops.

By the way: If anyone is working on a quilt or bags for the hygiene kits, please feel free to send me pictures to post. I threw these up today of my feeble efforts just to break up my wordy words.

Thoughts on hygiene kits and life boxes

Back-to-school sales are the perfect way to help with the multiple projects to create backpacks for our area's school children. Many of those same supplies are perfect for our lifebox project, and the sales right now are GREAT! Yesterday, I couldn't help but grab five boxes of Crayola markers at $1 each. All of this will be so helpful.

As for hygiene kits, those remain my worry. Will we get enough product for 135 bags not to mention spare bags? The most affordable place to buy supplies, of course, is the Dollar Tree. You can even have items shipped bulk directly to your local store. Very cool. Wal-Mart's $1 travel supply section has an excellent supply including one-load packets of Tide laundry detergent. These are low-cost items that will be so handy. One need I've feared being able to fill is some sort of children's/infant pain reliever. I also saw at Wal-Mart their house brand medicines are between $2 and $3, making that a doable goal as well.