Wrapped in Hope 2011!!!!

Today is November 1st--and that may mean many things to many people but here at MHC it means that I get to unveil the 2011 Wrapped in Hope list!! I am sure none of you are as excited about this as I am and that's cool--but maybe I can get you a little more excited about it by telling you a few things:
1. When I started the program in January of 2010--I had NO idea where we would go with this or if it would even work. I only knew that I wanted MHC to get involved in prison ministry in some way or other.
2.  We started with a goal of giving 80 birthday quilts to girls and boys who have at least one parent in prison.  We (by we, I mean people like you!) have sent 125 quilts to kids enrolled in this program in 2010!  In April of 2010, I had to stop adding names to the 2010 list and instead I began the 2011 list!
3.  The parents/guardians of the children who received quilts this year have been so thankful that this program exists.  Likewise, the kids have loved their quilts.  I have enjoyed reading e-mails describing children who won't go anywhere without their quilt from dad!!
4.  Many of the volunteer quilters who have joined us this year have expressed how much they have enjoyed this work--if you quilted for this program this year and want to encourage others to join--leave a comment on this post :)!
5. I will admit we have had a handful of troubles along the way--missing quilters, missing parents, mixed up addresses etc. but overall, I think it pretty much ran itself and we had a great first year.  I have made a few changes in order to avoid some of the same errors as last year and ease my workload a bit :)

So, are you a little more excited and curious about what we are doing?  Might you be interested in joining us in bringing HOPE and comfort to the children who are affected by the crimes of their parents?

  This year I have created a blog where I have listed all of the available children, their birth dates, and what their interests are.  Volunteer quilters can go to the blog, choose a child, e-mail me or leave a comment with their selection.  I will e-mail them back with a more detailed description of the whole process and the address of the child.  We will maintain the Flickr site where quilters can upload a picture of the quilt they have made.  
Currently, there are 88 children on the list--and many children with January birthdays so please head on over to the blog and check it out!