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.

Ready, set, go...to drop off supplies at the library!

I dropped off boxes and fliers at three libraries today and the other four put their own boxes out. So, to anyone reading this blog, feel free to drop off supplies at any Livingston County library (except Caledonia, the director of whom I just can't seem to catch.)

The Mount Morris library gladly accepted a box today, so thanks to them. And in another note, a kind lady left a box of old clothing and old Christmas cards for me at the Avon library. While we appreciate the intent, that's not exactly what we're hoping to collect!

Keeping my fingers crossed for collecting supplies in August!

I heart Target

Look what I found today ON SALE at Target. Flat single twin sheets for the whopping price of $5.90. I bought a dozen, figuring either we have a dozen quilt backs or six quilts. The sale lasts through Saturday (so the sign says) in case anyone else wants to make a rush on this AMAZING sale. What a lucky find for our quilt project.

I also should have taken a picture of the two bags of hotel shampoo and soap my neighbor, Judy, brought me. So grateful for those.

Keep up the good work!

YIKES!! A note on twin quilts

Soooo, I am not a mathematician. I previously wrote on this blog that a twin quilt was about 70" x 90", which is more the size of a full quilt. OOPS! Re-figure that somewhere more around 55-60" x 75-80". Anything in the neighborhood will do. Thanks!

Also, thanks to the Mount Morris Shopper for running a small advertisement on the service project in next week's edition!

Thanks to...

...The Genesee Valley Pennysaver for giving us a big, FREE ad in next week's pennysaver. As the my salary for all of my adult life has come for advertising revenue, I know the value of that space. Ad space costs money, and when I contacted them, I had hoped for something small in their Hometown stories section just to get the word out that individuals could donate to the project through almost any library in the county. Janet Olexy, Pennysaver director of promotions, kicked it up a notch and offered the ad. And then when wordy little me handed her 250 words of copy she said, "I'm going to run a bigger ad." Honestly, that just...well, it ROCKS!

Thanks Livingston County Libraries!

For the month of August, any individual willing to help with our service project will be able to drop off supplies at almost any Livingston County Library. The following libraries have agreed to be donation locations:

Avon Free Library
143 Genesee Street
Avon, NY 14414
Phone: 585-226-8461

Dansville Public Library
200 Main Street
Dansville, NY 14437
Phone: 585-335-6720

Lima Public Library
1872 Genesee Street
PO Box 58A
Lima, NY 14485
Phone: 585-582-1311

Livonia Public Library
2 Washington Street
PO Box 107
Livonia, NY 14487
Phone: 585-346-3450

Mount Morris Library
121 Main Street
Mount Morris, NY 14510
Phone: 585-658-4412


Wadsworth Library
24 Center Street
Geneseo, NY 14454
Phone: 585-243-0440

Watch the local penny savers and newspaper opening donations to this project to anyone in the community!

THANKS! to our new community partners

We are THRILLED to announce the addition of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish of Geneseo as a community partner to this project. Thank you St. Lukes! St. Lukes has also offered to be a community drop off location for supplies during the last two weeks of August. Stay tuned for more information!

Also, thanks to a lovely Livingston County lass, Lillian Kane, for offering to make two twin quilts with the backing and batting as well as a dozen hygiene kit bags. That's 10 percent of our quilting project accounted for and 1/4 of our bag needs met in one fell swoop.

Finally, thanks to Diana Ray for donating material and batting for yet another quilt.

Good things are happening!!!

A clarification on quilts

Quilts. The word brings to mind elaborate patterns, lots of cutting and LOTS of time. If you'd LIKE to do that for this project, way to go. However, our ambitions are much more simple. Two nice flat sheets, twin or full sized? We can turn that into a quilt. Just bring the sheets, maybe a plain one and a coordinating print, ironed and wahlaa, a quilt. The dimensions of a twin quilt are roughly 70" x 90" give or take a few inches either way. We have 10 bags of pre-cut fabric (think squares) for any kind volunteer to put together. In fact, as we are having a rough time hustling up volunteers for this, we will be getting together Tues., Aug. 18 @ 6:30 p.m. at the new LDS chapel on South Street for an evening of sewing and chatting. (Think straight squares, straight lines. Sorry to the true quilters of the world, but I'm just not that good.) I'll bring dessert. Any questions? Email amanda@lonsberry.com.

Service Project 101

A lot of people doing a little can accomplish great things.

At least, that’s what we hope.

On Sat., Sept. 26, several Livingston County women's groups, will join together in a service project that will primarily benefit Livingston County Social Services foster care and adult services divisions. While we are hoping to meet all our goals for quilts, “life boxes” and hygiene kits between our two organizations, we are hopeful that other local women’s groups will help us succeed, either through donations to the project or labor on Sat., Sept. 26.

This service day idea started from an attempt to clean out a church closet. We found ourselves staring at enough fabric leftover from past service projects to make 10 quilts and started wondering what we could do with them. Certainly we could find a local use for them, and we did! As it turns it, we are not the first to consider Livingston County’s foster care program. Other community quilting groups have donated quilts, and a group of the American Sewing Guild centered in Avon frequently donates quilts to the program for children coming into the foster care system. However, says senior caseworker Donna Mankoff, there is always a need for more quilts for those children and other children in the county who are under social services supervision. We will also provide 20 “life boxes,” which are decorated shoe boxes filled with the craft essentials (and a few fun extras) to help children to record their stay in foster care.

Over in the adult employment services division, coordinator Dave Peck reports that frequently, their clients come in without their basic hygiene needs met. How can they apply for work in that condition? He and his staff have a $50 annual budget for hygiene supplies and a general call throughout the county workforce to bring back any hotel hygiene supplies from their trips. The items are in a box and are given out hodgepodge to those in need. Occasionally, Peck said, staff members will buy needed supplies for clients from their own pockets. I think we can help. Our proposed hygiene kits will give the county a four-month supply and will help these people get on the right foot as they begin looking for work. As we hope to collect many more supplies then necessary (fingers crossed!) the extra supplies will be packaged and donated to Livingston County food pantries for distribution with food supplies. The full kits cost between $3.50 and $7 to make when shopping frugally.

We are hopeful that by working together, we can exceed these goals, be able to give more to these people and even spread the wealth around to other organizations in need. Please find the attached flier with more specific lists of what items/and or labor are needed. We would be very grateful for any help with this project. Also, we are happy to come and speak to your women’s groups about the project. Just leave a comment with your contact information or email amanda@lonsberry.com. Thanks!

The List

Well, if you're still reading, that means you're interested in helping with this project. First of all, thanks! Second of all, use your time, money and energy where you see fit as long as we have all items and/or monetary donations by Aug. 30. Here are our goals and what we need to accomplish them. (By the way, if we exceed our goals, wouldn't that be great?!)

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:

* Batting for 20 quilts
* We have fabric for about 10 quilt tops. We need volunteers to piece those together.
* 10 other pieced together quilt tops or donated fabric for quilt tops for other volunteers to put together. Even two flat sheets, gently used or new would be fantastic!
* 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