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Thursday, November 08, 2012

Help for Sandy Survivors!

This is an urgent post.

I’ve been emailing back and forth with Victoria Findlay Wolfe of bumblebeansinc.com
over the past several days trying to line up something that we can do to help those left in the wake of Super-Storm Sandy’s destruction.

So many are still without power, having lost their homes or having experienced severe damage ---

So much is needed!

As quilters, what do we do best?  We Quilt!

Here is what V sent me to pass on to you:

 
sandy1
Super Storm Sandy and my area of the world.

Having missed the entire storm, by being in Houston for Market, I felt helpless as my family were in NYC without me. I started to organize a quilt drive for our area while I was still in Houston.
 
Once home, I realized how seriously the storm affected my neighborhood, my friends, and fellow New Yorkers, CT, PA and NJ... Homes have been wiped off the face of the earth, people are cold, and wet, and we have rain and snow coming. I need to be able to help NOW.
 
I just had a call from Raul Russi, Head of the Acacia Network, whom I had previously partnered with on myBUMBLEBEANSBASICS.com Quilt Drive for homeless families being taken out of shelters and put into transitional housing.
 
He said, "We have 150-200 quilts here, right now. And since the rest of my families are INSIDE already, can we deliver these quilts in our medical trucks to the people in the Rockaways, NOW?"  I said, "YES! Let's go!" 
Once we have more quilts, we will continue to set up more distribution points around our area including Staten Island, Long Island, NJ, CT.
QUILTS AND BLANKETS are needed ASAP.

Home-made or Store Bought QUILTS AND BLANKETS: ANY SIZE.

Quilts will be accepted, and handed out as quickly as they come in.

Give Selflessly.

Thank you cards will not be sent out due to the urgency of the events of SANDY.

REAL THANKS:

LABEL YOUR QUILTS, Name, address and email.

The person who receives your quilt may want to thank you themselves.

Send Quilts & Blankets to:
Basic Housing, Inc.
Attn: Robert Gonzalez / H.SANDY
540 East 180th Street, Bronx, NY 10457
PLEASE Include INSIDE THE BOX CLEARLY WRITTEN
your name, email & address & Phone

Please ship them with delivery confirmation.

Any questions, Please email:

Lane Falcon: lfalcon@acacianetwork.org

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!

Victoria Findlay Wolfe bumblebeansinc.com

More from me:

We’ve received the call.  It’s time to act!  When Hurricane Katrina hit and the Red Cross was calling for twin quilts, the most versatile of sizes, I put up the directions for a very fast and still very attractive Trip Round The World quilt.  It takes 5 fabrics, and winds up at about 72” X 85”.  I can sew this top in an afternoon, and so can you.  It doesn't have to be quilted -- tying is fine!

If you are looking for an idea and want to dig in, give this one a try --- even if you are a very experienced quilter who likes more intricate patterns, this one finishes up nice and quick.

Let’s see what we can do  to help each other.

While we are a nation divided over the outcome of our recent national elections, this is where the “We The People” come in ----it’s time to forget about the politics and waiting for the government to take care of things.  WE THE PEOPLE need to just get in and do it.

I'm asking your help in getting the word out.  Can you please forward this post to your email lists, your facebook pages, your message boards and online groups to spread the word?  We need many hands ---help me spread the word!

Now go sew!!

17 comments:

  1. Reposted to my FB...I think I'll work up something today, in between loads of laundry brought home for folks in Ocean City, NJ. My laundry room smells like the ocean! A great way to spend my otherwise pointless birthday..lol.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happy Birthday Penny... I really do hope and pray you have a funtastic and wonderful day.. Prayers being sent that way.

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    2. Happy Birthday, Penny. What a blessing you are to those people! I am sending you good wishes. I know your heart will be kept full and warm for the help you are giving.

      Delete
  2. Great post, I was just telling my husband that there must be something out there to send quilts to.... posted on my blog and will post on FB as well

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have a quilt quilted and will put the binding on and ship it. Thanks Bonnie. Victoria, I am so sorry for your loss and all the other victims of Sandy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Will post on FB. Penny that is amazing. There are so many doing so much with so much to be done. I will send some soon. Thanks for the post.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I posted your blog post on my blog. Of course links back to here, etc. are very obvious. Hope it was OK to do it that way. Just trying to get the word out...

    Paul
    www.OutnumberedQuilter.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I will repost this on facebook. I hope there are others willing to help.
    I was contacted thru my guild and we have some quilts coming to the NJ area. There are way too many that have lost so much. And New Jersey is a big stretch of land. Also the Long Island area is large and many people were on the water. Many of the quilt shops are also collecting. Keep those quilts coming.

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  7. Anonymous9:06 AM EST

    Hi Bonnie
    Our quilt group of 4 will be making 2 quilts tomorrow. Count on your Canadian friends to help. Our hearts break for these poor people.
    Since I will be mailing from Canada, I am not sure what you mean by delivery confirmation. Maybe I should ship via UPS?
    Thanks for the information. Quilters are such giving people.
    Hugs
    Deb

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When you mail a parcel in Canada you automatically get a tracking # that you can go the Canada Post website and track it's journey. I'm pretty sure this also applies to parcels sent to the US.
      a fellow Canadian
      Jackie

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  8. Another quick way to try to get these people warm is to layer 2 fleece fabrics, cut about 4 inches from the edge all around on each piece and tie them together and you have a warm, 2 layer blanket FAST! Fleece is not expensive and is sometimes on sale at Hobby Lobby, etc. Just a thought.
    Nancy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Forgot to say--Make cuts about 1 in. apart.

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  9. I need to go through my already done quilts and see what I have to send and then get it boxed up and in the mail. Thanks for the info!

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  10. Anonymous10:55 AM EST

    GOOD WORK BONNIE -- thak you for tracking this down for us.
    NOW SEE THE IMPORTANCE OF BONNIE'S PRE-CUT FABRIC METHOD! Perfect example top how well it works.

    Going to do this, for sure. Hope others will also. Am also sending a copy/paste of the info to several friends around the country. They shuld get it and work too.

    THANKS and hugs Bonnie
    JulieinTN

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  11. I can't send a whole quilt. But is there somewhere we could send blocks?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Over on My Patchwork life she's taking the disappearing 4 patch block to put into quilts. Here's her link

      http://vesuviusmama.blogspot.com/2012/11/taking-action-wanna-help.html

      Carla

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  12. Hi Bonnie,

    I just want to let you know that 5th grade Junior Girl Scouts and Kindergarten Daisy Scouts sponsored a quilt and blanket drive at our school. We collected 27 blankets and quilts. The girls also learned to tie 2 scrap quilts and 2 crumb quilts on tops I already had completed.
    Thanks for posting this information. This was a wonderful opportunity for the girls in my troops to help and learn the love of quilting.

    Roxi

    ReplyDelete

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