Monday, May 21, 2007
There are people out there that Care. Are you one of them?
This will bring new readers up-to-date and regular readers some new insight. Read on....
About five months ago I started writing people asking them to help. It all started when I was trying to find one of those illusive parking spaces near the library and parked in front of the bus station. I was in a hurry and began to get my four small children out of the car when I looked up as saw a group hovering about and well I was late and didn’t have time to load the children back in the car and find a new parking space. So I huddle my children close and told them to walk fast. The way any mother hen would when she thinks her chicks are in danger. As I hurried my children pasts the people huddled around the vents at the bus station my 7-year-old son asked me why all those people were there and why they didn’t have coat. I told him they were homeless and tried to move him along a little faster. He said “Why don’t they go inside the bus station it looks a lot warmer in there.” I new this was one of those moments I could turn and run or tell the truth. I answered “Because people don’t like homeless people hanging around it makes them uncomfortable.” Then he asked that question “ Why don’t they have a home? Where do they sleep? I stopped and realized this was one of those moments when I could teach my children a valuable lesson. I answered, “There could be a lot of reasons why they are homeless. Lets say that Dad lost his job or got hurt and couldn’t work. Well how would we pay for our house, food, clothes, shoes or a winter coat to keep us warm? Some times that happens and as hard as we try we lose all of our things. And people are always afraid to ask for help. They think people won’t like them. So they end up in shelters and then they hide because people don’t like homeless people to hang around. They think they are dirty, bad people. He said we should do something. I agreed.
When we got home I started making calls to see if we could volunteer. But the more I called the more I realized that people don’t want a woman and her four small children helping. I got a lot of. No Thank You’s I thought, well now I know why nothing ever gets done. Even volunteering had a lot of red tape. It was hard to make a long-term commitment. I didn’t want to volunteer and then not be able to follow thru if something came up. What to do now? I wanted to teach my children they could make a difference. That they could do something, but what could I do? I didn’t know.
Then I was surfing the web when I came across Warm Up America. Warm Up America makes afghans for the homeless with the help of everyday people. You can make just one square and send it to them. They will put it with others and it will become an afghan. That afghan will be given to a homeless person. I thought, “ I don’t know how to knit or crochet but they had directions and I can read so why not give it a shot.” I went out and bought a skein of yarn and knitting needles…cost was about $5.00. I read the directions and yes it took me a while to figure it out. I stitched and pulled it out and tried again, and again and again then I started to get the hang of it. I made a square. Trust me it wasn’t a pretty one. It had lots of mistakes. I figure if I was cold I don’t think I would be counting stitches I would be counting my blessings for a warm blanket. So I tried again and then I began to show my children just how easy it was. As I showed them I thought, if I could get each of my friends and family to make one square, well maybe I could also get the people at church to make a square, the children in my sons class, hey this is an idea. I could get enough people to make an entire afghan. My children could see just how easy it could be to make a difference. So how do I get all these people involved and where do I get the yarn and knitting needles and crochet hooks…Well I went back to the web and looked up yarn suppliers and wrote to as many as I could find about donating yarn. Then I called the paper and asked if they wanted to help me spread the word about making afghans. On Christmas Eve Day the Standard Times ran the story.
Ask and it will be yours….
That day, Christmas Eve, neighbors who I have never spoken with, saw my picture and story in the paper, came to my house with donations, money to buy knitting needles, yarn they had and never used, and then Caron Manufacturing donated boxes and boxes of yarn. I couldn’t believe it. My phone started ringing people who have knitted or crochet for years wanted to send me squares. Little old ladies who have been forgotten in their apartments for years called me to talk, to ask me if they could help. They had something to give again. Their stories touched my heart and their warmth filled me.
The Gift I received…
Once every six-week a women who is blind meets me as she goes for her cancer treatments. Her daughter drives her and we meet in the parking lot and talk about our progress and I describe how beautiful the afghans are and tell her how her pieces have been woven in to the blankets. She tells me that her prognosis is not good and smiles as she hands me 30 squares she has made. My heart is full.
I go to a triple-decker family house in New Bedford where an elderly women lives on the third floor. We make our way up the flights of stairs and she smiles to see my children. She brings out a basket of toys for them to play with and her tiny apartment is filled with the laughter and noise of children. We talk about what’s going on in the City. As we enter her living room she has three cardboard tables set up. The first is filled with small squares of a single color. The second with medium squares with two colors and the third is piled high with finished three-color squares. Then on the couch is a pile of completed afghans. At one visit she had made three afghans in a months time. I tell her how much her hard work and commitment is appreciated. How much it means to me that we are doing good. How beautiful her work is. She thanks me and hugs me, telling me I was sent by God and have changed her life. I hug her again. My daughter asks me why is she crying. I say because she feels good. The deep down good that makes you cry.
I thought I was making afghans for the homeless but then I realized so much more was being made. Kindness, goodwill, love and friendship are stitched in with each piece that is made. The boxes come full of squares with notes from the makers with promise of more to come. People ask me to send pictures of the afghans and I send updates to them as we go.
I tell people next time you see a homeless person wrapped in an afghan and you are rushing by trying not to make eye contact, stop, take a moment, smile warmly and remember I don’t think they want to be out in the cold either. If you have one half hour in you life you can make a difference. Together we are making a difference, join us.
About five months ago I started writing people asking them to help. It all started when I was trying to find one of those illusive parking spaces near the library and parked in front of the bus station. I was in a hurry and began to get my four small children out of the car when I looked up as saw a group hovering about and well I was late and didn’t have time to load the children back in the car and find a new parking space. So I huddle my children close and told them to walk fast. The way any mother hen would when she thinks her chicks are in danger. As I hurried my children pasts the people huddled around the vents at the bus station my 7-year-old son asked me why all those people were there and why they didn’t have coat. I told him they were homeless and tried to move him along a little faster. He said “Why don’t they go inside the bus station it looks a lot warmer in there.” I new this was one of those moments I could turn and run or tell the truth. I answered “Because people don’t like homeless people hanging around it makes them uncomfortable.” Then he asked that question “ Why don’t they have a home? Where do they sleep? I stopped and realized this was one of those moments when I could teach my children a valuable lesson. I answered, “There could be a lot of reasons why they are homeless. Lets say that Dad lost his job or got hurt and couldn’t work. Well how would we pay for our house, food, clothes, shoes or a winter coat to keep us warm? Some times that happens and as hard as we try we lose all of our things. And people are always afraid to ask for help. They think people won’t like them. So they end up in shelters and then they hide because people don’t like homeless people to hang around. They think they are dirty, bad people. He said we should do something. I agreed.
When we got home I started making calls to see if we could volunteer. But the more I called the more I realized that people don’t want a woman and her four small children helping. I got a lot of. No Thank You’s I thought, well now I know why nothing ever gets done. Even volunteering had a lot of red tape. It was hard to make a long-term commitment. I didn’t want to volunteer and then not be able to follow thru if something came up. What to do now? I wanted to teach my children they could make a difference. That they could do something, but what could I do? I didn’t know.
Then I was surfing the web when I came across Warm Up America. Warm Up America makes afghans for the homeless with the help of everyday people. You can make just one square and send it to them. They will put it with others and it will become an afghan. That afghan will be given to a homeless person. I thought, “ I don’t know how to knit or crochet but they had directions and I can read so why not give it a shot.” I went out and bought a skein of yarn and knitting needles…cost was about $5.00. I read the directions and yes it took me a while to figure it out. I stitched and pulled it out and tried again, and again and again then I started to get the hang of it. I made a square. Trust me it wasn’t a pretty one. It had lots of mistakes. I figure if I was cold I don’t think I would be counting stitches I would be counting my blessings for a warm blanket. So I tried again and then I began to show my children just how easy it was. As I showed them I thought, if I could get each of my friends and family to make one square, well maybe I could also get the people at church to make a square, the children in my sons class, hey this is an idea. I could get enough people to make an entire afghan. My children could see just how easy it could be to make a difference. So how do I get all these people involved and where do I get the yarn and knitting needles and crochet hooks…Well I went back to the web and looked up yarn suppliers and wrote to as many as I could find about donating yarn. Then I called the paper and asked if they wanted to help me spread the word about making afghans. On Christmas Eve Day the Standard Times ran the story.
Ask and it will be yours….
That day, Christmas Eve, neighbors who I have never spoken with, saw my picture and story in the paper, came to my house with donations, money to buy knitting needles, yarn they had and never used, and then Caron Manufacturing donated boxes and boxes of yarn. I couldn’t believe it. My phone started ringing people who have knitted or crochet for years wanted to send me squares. Little old ladies who have been forgotten in their apartments for years called me to talk, to ask me if they could help. They had something to give again. Their stories touched my heart and their warmth filled me.
The Gift I received…
Once every six-week a women who is blind meets me as she goes for her cancer treatments. Her daughter drives her and we meet in the parking lot and talk about our progress and I describe how beautiful the afghans are and tell her how her pieces have been woven in to the blankets. She tells me that her prognosis is not good and smiles as she hands me 30 squares she has made. My heart is full.
I go to a triple-decker family house in New Bedford where an elderly women lives on the third floor. We make our way up the flights of stairs and she smiles to see my children. She brings out a basket of toys for them to play with and her tiny apartment is filled with the laughter and noise of children. We talk about what’s going on in the City. As we enter her living room she has three cardboard tables set up. The first is filled with small squares of a single color. The second with medium squares with two colors and the third is piled high with finished three-color squares. Then on the couch is a pile of completed afghans. At one visit she had made three afghans in a months time. I tell her how much her hard work and commitment is appreciated. How much it means to me that we are doing good. How beautiful her work is. She thanks me and hugs me, telling me I was sent by God and have changed her life. I hug her again. My daughter asks me why is she crying. I say because she feels good. The deep down good that makes you cry.
I thought I was making afghans for the homeless but then I realized so much more was being made. Kindness, goodwill, love and friendship are stitched in with each piece that is made. The boxes come full of squares with notes from the makers with promise of more to come. People ask me to send pictures of the afghans and I send updates to them as we go.
I tell people next time you see a homeless person wrapped in an afghan and you are rushing by trying not to make eye contact, stop, take a moment, smile warmly and remember I don’t think they want to be out in the cold either. If you have one half hour in you life you can make a difference. Together we are making a difference, join us.
Labels: afghans
// posted by DME @ 5:54 AM 
Subscribe to Comments [Atom]
