The middle of November means many different things to many different people--it may signal the beginning (or ending) of Christmas shopping, it may mean it's time to nail down the Thanksgiving dinner menu--and for crafters it may produce a sort of anxiety over those unfinished homemade Christmas gifts.
For us at Margaret's Hope Chest it means it is time to pull out the ever growing list of birthdays for 'Wrapped in Hope' and share them with our faithful volunteers. January birthdays are right around the corner and I want to give everyone ample time to plan ahead.
At this point, our list is smaller than last year--we have a smaller group of kids from the Atlanta, GA area that we are serving this year. The other names on the list have come to me through a few different avenues:
1. Prison Talk (an online support group for families of the incarcerated)
2. Word of mouth--some of the families who have received quilts over the past 2 years are sharing what we do with their friends.
3. Prisoners that we are meeting in the prison giveaways are sharing our program with other inmates.
I see God's hand in all of this and know that he will send us the people that he wants us to serve.
If you are new here and what to know the process of this program here are the guidelines that I send each quilter when they sign up for a child:
1. Please make the quilt with at least one of the interests that are listed. Minimum size of the quilt should be 40X60. Quilts can be tied or quilted. Make sure the quilt is clean before sending--no pet hair etc.
2. Start the quilt whenever you choose--but the quilt must be finished 2 weeks prior to the birthday. 2 weeks before the birthday please post a picture of it on the Flickr site and e-mail Carin. If you don't know how to load pictures onto Flickr--please e-mail a picture of the quilt to Carin and she will add it for you.
3. Please add a small birthday card with the quilt. Add the message that the parent has provided (see below)
4. Please don't add any extra gifts with the quilt. Many of the children have siblings who are also receiving a quilt this year and we would like to keep everything as equal and fair as possible.
5. Please don't delete this e-mail because it has the mailing address for your child and what the birthday card message should be. I do have a hard copy of this information so if you do lose it I can provide it to you again.
6. You will be sending the quilt directly to the child but we ask that you use Margaret's Hope Chest mailing address as the return address--just in case there is trouble. That address is: MHC 630 Griswold SE Grand Rapids Michigan 49507.
7. After sending more than 200 quilts through the United States Postal Service over the past 3 years- a word of advice--consider paying the extra 70 cents for DELIVERY CONFIRMATION. It gives you the piece of mind that the quilt arrived when and where it should have. Many of the families will send a thank-you e-mail to me when they receive the quilts but many do not--and that leaves the quilter worrying that it was never received. Plus, it seems that packages with the delivery confirmation get a little more attention and are delivered a bit faster :)
8. If you have a blog where other quilters read we would love it if you would share your experience quilting for 'Wrapped in Hope' with them!
9. Have fun and don't hesitate to ask any questions!
A couple of 'housekeeping' items before I get to the list.
1. I will be sending you all the information about the child right away this year.
Please don't delete the information. I ran into a problem this year after the addresses for all of the children were accidentally packed up in my household goods when I moved out of Toronto. There are a handful of children who will not receive their quilt this year because of the error I made--I don't want this to ever happen again--so I am taking new measures to insure that.
2. If you sign up to make a quilt and then for some reason can't carry through with the task--please, tell me as soon as possible. I have always found someone else to make the quilt but the more time I have the better.
3. Each year, a couple of the families on the list
disappear off the face of the earth and the quilts are not able to be delivered. That is sad-and I always feel bad when it happens--but please be aware that is does happen.
4. Later this week I will update the 'Wrapped in Hope' blog with the full list of birthdays--
this list is just for January, February, and March birthdays.
5. If you would like to choose one of the kids I have listed please
e-mail me.
Wrapped in Hope 2012 Jan-March
January 18--Oren will be 5--red, black, superheros Tina
January 20--Elessia will be 10--pink, purple, turtles, butterflies, cheerleading, dancing-Brittany
January 24--Rachael will be 16--pink, black, redCarol
February 19--Jacob will be 2-blues, browns, and Goofy
February 24--Giuliana will be 6--purple Lynn
February 24--Dartavius will be 10--basketball, blue, red
March 1--Dominique will be 18--cheerleading, blue, gold
March 8--DeMariay will be 10--legos, baseball, basketball, soccer
March 26--Isis will be 11--Pink, soccer, peace signs
March 27--Dominique will be 18--blue, Colts (football team)
March 28--Nayla will be 7--yellow, pinkAnita
March 30--Aaliyah will be 8--hearts, purple, light blue Dorothy
