Sew for HOPE July 2010 Newsletter

Thanks
We appreciate all of our volunteers and would like to thank the 14 who joined us in June for blanket making day at HOPE Community. Those individuals were: Peggy Adair, Tracy Allen, Margaret Bargy, Cindy Burdeshaw, Mary DiGiovanni, Sandi Dutton, Lea Ellen Kornegay, Kyron, Mavis LaBounty, Deborah Poindexter, Nancy Price, Heather Whitehead, Darlene Wilke, and myself. Several of our volunteers also brought in donations. Sandi brought in many beautiful fresh floral arrangements from her Cut Flower Farm. She placed them on desks and work areas around HOPE Community, thus brightening everyone's environment. Deborah Poindexter brought back lots of yo-yos she made for our yo-yo quilt. Peggy Adair donated art prints for our rummage sale. Nancy Price brought in a queen size quilt w/ matching pillows. Lea Ellen brought in a pillow and matching quilt that she's been working on, Thank you one and all.

At the end of our June meeting we turned in three http://www.sewforhopenow.com/?page_id=1415 (two with matching pillows), six afghans, one used blanket, 13 new children's outfits, and an assortment of shampoo, lotion, and soap.

To date we've donated 198 blankets in the form of: 98 finished hand-made http://www.sewforhopenow.com/?page_id=1415, 41 hand-made fleece blankets, 35 crocheted or knitted afghans, two summer-weight coverlets, 14 store bought blankets, eight used blankets, ten hand-made pillows, and one crocheted Bunny Love. We've also received a small mountain of stuffed animals, toys, clothes, and household items which have been passed along to the kind folks residing at HOPE Community here in Tallahassee.

Additional blessings we've received since the last newsletter:
At the June Quilter's Unlimited (QU) Quilt Guild meeting we received yo-yo blocks from Gail Chase, knitted caps from Charlotte Hughes, and a music quilt from Renie Marchese. Thank you ladies. QU has been so supportive of our cause.

Thank you to Mary DiGiovanni and Elaina, Sandi Dutton, Donna Dye, Carol Harrison, Mavis LaBounty, Libby Penrod, Nancy Price, and Heather Whitehead for helping out at our additional Sew for HOPE meetings at our satellite location. That's at 1108 W Tharpe St. We share the building with Goodwill and "A Bag of HOPE" Project. Thank you to Libby Penrod, and Lynne Corbett for passing along fabric from their project that's more suitable for quilting than for the bags they make. They have also donated lots of fabric for our upcoming rummage sale.

Donna Dye has just donated three http://www.sewforhopenow.com/?page_id=1415 she made with her own talented hands. One was from our inventory of quilting kits that we give out. Thank you Donna. By the way, these kits are available to anyone who asks.

Carol Harrison has donated four more http://www.sewforhopenow.com/?page_id=1415, plus some quilted panels. Thank you Carol.

Mavis finished a little boys quilt and dropped it off directly at the HOPE Community office. She did that because there are so many families residing there right now who have 3, 4, or 5 kids. There is great need and our stock pile of blankets had been depleted.

Lea Ellen tells me "I have seven or eight little boy receiving blankets that I bought last week that I'll bring with me the next time I see you". Awesome, I can't wait to see them.

Roselind Woods has given us nice bankers boxes for toting stuff to our rummage sale and some more fabric. Thank you Roselind.

A special thanks to Brooke Lochore and Goodwill Industries - Big Bend, Inc for the donation of work and storage space. Thank you also to the friendly and helpful men who work at this donation center. They are always willing to help us load and unload our cars

Thanks to Heather Whitehead for creating and continuing to maintain our website. Heather also has made sure we're on facebook and that you can follow us on twitter.

Next Sew for HOPE Blanket Making Day
Tuesday, July 13th from 1 - 4:30 pm
We'll be visiting and having fun while making http://www.sewforhopenow.com/?page_id=1415 and blankets for the babies and children at HOPE Community.

We are not a closed group and volunteers are always welcomed with open arms. Experience is not required and men are welcome too.

Address
Big Bend Homeless Coalition
2729 W Pensacola St
Tallahassee, FL 32302
We always meet in the cafeteria, but please stop by the administration building and sign in first. That's the last building on the right and it's brick.

Directions
Drive west on Tennessee Street, turn left onto Appleyard, cross Pensacola, take the first left onto Municipal Way, pass the jail on the right, look for a small sign by the entrance on the left that says "Tallahassee Coalition for the Homeless.

HOPE and Goodwill Workday Schedule
1108 W Tharpe St (at Old Bainbridge)
1st Saturday from 9:30a - 1p (our next one is August 7th)
3rd Monday from 9:30a - 1p (that's July 19th this month)
4th Wednesday from 1p - 4:30p (that's July 28th this month)
We could use a few more able bodies to lend a hand as there's room for 5 or 6 people to work at the same time.

Donations may be dropped off any day between 8a - 6p. Donations need to be clearly marked "Sew for HOPE" so they are not confused with Goodwill donations.

1st Annual Craft-y Rummage Sale
Please join us on September 11th for this great sale. We'll have yards and yards of upholstery fabric, drapery fabric, knits, cotton poly blends, etc. We'll also have sewing machines and notions. Craft supplies too! Oh my!. And, just so our shoppers won't become famished, we'll also have coffee, donuts, and other assorted snacks and beverages for sale.

Darlene Wilke has generously offered the use of her home for this event, but we could still use a few more volunteers to sign up. Please, please contact Cynthia at 539-5558 or reply to this e-mail.

Raffle Quilt
Congratulations to Cindy Burdeshaw who was the lucky winner or our first raffle quilt.

Our next raffle quilt (The Yo-Yo Quilt) is in progress and will be quite lovely when completed.

Money from these raffles is and will be used entirely for tools and supplies so we can continue our mission of providing a hand-made quilt, afghan, or blanket to each child who passes through HOPE Community/Big Bend Homeless Coalition.

Wish List

We need a nice, new ironing board pad and cover.

We need a volunteer to head up fund raising. This is not a big job since most of what we deal in is "goods". We use donated fabric and volunteer labor to make http://www.sewforhopenow.com/?page_id=1415 and blankets for homeless children. But we still need to purchase consumables such as pins, needles, and other sewing supplies.

We're asking Professional Long Arm Quilters to do quilting when they're in between projects of their own.

We would appreciate local churches hosting quilting bees.

A Bag of HOPE
With money raised from the sale of handmade bags, this project has just finished building a children's library. The location is inside the family dorm, on the grounds of HOPE Community. For more information please contact Libby Penrod at libbypenrod@comcast.net or Lynne Corbett at lcc0809@concast.net.

Thanks for taking the time to read our newsletter, please share it with others who may be interested.

Cynthia Seyler, Sew for HOPE Founder
850-539-5558 home
850-556-1215 cell (Do not leave messages on my cell. I live in a dead zone and sometimes messages die too)