Project Baby Bundle Success

Project Baby Bundle is now complete and we are so excited to tell you our numbers! But first, we want to say thank you to everyone who helped us by making hats and blankets, making donations of money or materials, or praying for us. We couldn't do this without you and we are so thankful God has brought us together as a team. When we work together, we truly can accomplish more!

 

Project Baby Bundle was a 10-week endeavor to make at least 50 hats and 50 blankets for The House of Hope. They provide crisis and counseling services to women with unplanned pregnancies, and also provide support and assistance to families with young children.

 

We had friends from California, Oregon,  Washington, Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Oklahoma City,  and right here at home join us to help this cause. And guess what? We exceeded our goal! In total, our team made

 

4 pair of booties,

 

 

 147 blankets,

 

 

 and 269 hats!! 

 

Isn't that amazing?! We have so much to donate that we will be able to donate to two places instead of just one. We are getting things worked out now, but hopefully part of this stash will also be given to a local foster closet that provides items for those who are taking foster children into their homes.

 

We are blown away by God's goodness and are so grateful to be able to help others in need. We will be taking a short break to plan our next project and raise funds, so be on the look out for information.

 

Morgan and Maddie with the stash!

 

 

We were also recruited by the Kiwanis Club in Albany, GA to make six scarves and hats for several of their Meals on Wheels recipients who are in need. The items will be delivered to them as a gift just in time for Christmas. Special thanks to Rozanna Grove for helping us get those done quickly!

 

 

 

Fun Fact: Since May, the Bundle Up Club has made and donated  267 blankets, 126 scarves, and 389 hats!

Good Things Happen When We Work Together

Last Saturday, November 15th, The Bundle Up Club teamed up with The Wave youth group of Abba's House Worship Center, and with Pastor Vernon Carter and his wife Marilyn of the Metro House of Hope in Oklahoma City. About 15 of us went to help distribute gift bags (handmade hats, scarves, and blankets) and to ride along with Pastor Carter as he handed out sack lunches, coffee, and juice. When we arrived at 8:00 a.m., volunteers were busy in the kitchen fixing up a nice, hot breakfast for those who had come to be served. About 40 people showed up for breakfast that morning. 

 

The Carter's drive and old, gutted-out bus to make their deliveries. There are a few seats left, but the majority of them have been removed and replaced with work stations. They usually pack the sack lunches ahead of time, and make the sandwiches and coffee while they are actually running the route so they can serve them fresh. Since they knew we were coming, they didn't assemble the lunch bags ahead of time and let us be a part of that process. Each sack contained an orange, several individually packaged snack bags, a sandwich, and a container of juice. 

Since there were so many of us, the girls and boys split up into teams to do the lunch sack/sandwich making assembly line, and to pass out the food to those who needed it.

 

The route they run generally takes about two hours to complete. They stop at various points along the route and people will line up to be served. They will also stop the bus if they see an individual coming who needs food.

 

It was a very cold day Saturday, and we were able to serve a lot of people. We handed out approximately 50 lunches, and gave away about 35 blankets, hats, and scarves. A lot of people needed gloves, so we gave away a lot of those, too. The rest of the gift bags (15) were left with them so they can deliver to those who need them in the coming weeks.

 

All of us who went on this outreach were humbled by the gratefulness shown by those who received blankets and food. We all realized even more just how blessed we are and how much we often take for granted. We were also in awe of Vernon and Marilyn Carter's dedication and faithfulness to the homeless of the OKC Metro area. They have a passion for service. They have run their outreach, which provides 2 cooked meals a week and the mobile sack lunch delivery every Saturday, for the past 20 years. They also collect every type of item imaginable--clothes, shoes, coats, gloves, blankets, hats, toiletries, food--to distribute to those who need it.

 

20 YEARS!!

That's dedication and service, people!

 

Sometimes it's just the two of them assembling the lunch sacks and driving the bus route on Saturdays. They know everyone's name, everyone's story, everyone's background. They pray for and love on and give hope to those who need it most. Pastor Carter has their respect and trust. Everyone we saw that day asked for him. Some wanted prayer, some just wanted to say hi, but all wanted to say thank you.

 

Everything the Metro House of Hope does is made possible strictly by volunteers and donations. We're planning on going to work with them again soon, and will donate blankets again also.

 

It was so much fun getting to team up with both our youth group, and the Carter's ministry. It made us realize that when we work together, we can accomplish so much more. What we do may be small, but when paired with the work others, it becomes big. We are so grateful to have had this opportunity! Here are a few pictures from the day:

Our Bundle Up Party & Radio Interview

We hosted our first ever Bundle Up Club training party last night and it was a huge success!  

 



Fifteen of the sweetest, most awesome ladies showed up to learn to use a knitting loom to make hats, and to learn to make no-sew fleece blankets. Each was sent home with a loom, yarn, and fleece so she could help make baby hats and blankets for Project Baby Bundle. We had an absolute blast and can't wait to host another party!

Also, we finally got around to converting our interview with Christian Family Radio in Bowling Green, Kentucky into a format we can share with you. If you'd like to hear it, just click the link below.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFQICS-CkXo

 

Unexpected Blessings & Our OKC Delivery

We thought we were finished with our first project, in which our goal was to give away 100 gift bags to the homeless. We ended up with 104 gift bags, and were pleased we had exceeded our goal. We distributed 70 bags in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and kept the remaining 34 bags so we could give them to the Oklahoma City Metro House of Hope.

But even though our second mission, Project Baby Bundle, is in full swing, we still haven't completed our first mission, because guess what? We had an unexpected, large donation of fleece come in! We received enough to make 16 more blankets! And guess what else? Our church youth group has decided to get involved by helping us make the remaining blankets and distribute all the gift bags in OKC! We will be making that trip on November 15th.

Because we have extra hats and scarves also, we will be able to make 16 more gift bags, which will give us a total of 50 to give away to the OKC Metro House of Hope. This brings the grand total of our first project to 120 gift bags of all handmade blankets, hats, and scarves distributed to the homeless of Bowling Green, KY and Oklahoma City, OK!

We are so thankful for God's provision and help with this project and continue to be amazed by the great things happening with our little team!

Tomorrow night we will host our first Bundle Up training class. What started small has turned big! We have 15 confirmed attendees, and a possible 5 more who will be learning to use knitting looms and make blankets. We will be sending everyone home with supplies to help us with Project Baby Bundle!

We'll post pictures and updated numbers from our training party soon, so stay tuned!

Thanks so much to each of you for your support, encouragement, prayers, donations, and help. We couldn't do it without YOU!

Project Baby Bundle - Updates and Information

Project Baby Bundle, our latest mission which will provide baby hats and blankets for children ages 0-3 years through the House of Hope, a local organization that provides support and services to women with unexpected pregnancies, as well as needy families with young children, has gotten off to a great start! We are currently two-and-a-half weeks in, and are quickly moving toward our goal of 50 hats and 50 blankets to donate by December 15th.

So far we've made 26 blankets (22 fleece, 4 knitted) and 38 hats!

 

At this rate, we're obviously going to exceed our goal, so we've just decided to keep making blankets and hats until the deadline (December 15th) or we run out of material--whichever comes first. Because our project has already been fully funded, we have purchased all our supplies.

 

Not including the blankets already made, we have enough fleece to make 85 more no-sew blankets. That would give us 111 blankets to donate. And the cool part? This doesn't even include our friends out of state or out of town who have volunteered and started making items! These totals only reflect what we have at our home right now. We also have a ton of yarn. It's difficult to calculate how many more hats can be knitted or crocheted with what we have, but based on what we've made so far, we think it's safe to say we'll well exceed the 100 mark. And again, this is only taking into account what we actually have in our possession, not what others elsewhere are making to donate. We're thinking that by the time it's all said and done, we will have at least 115 of each item to donate. How awesome is that?!

 

Because we have a lot of supplies and only about 6 people working with us here, we need help! We'd like to organize a get together for our local friends who would like to learn to make blankets and use knitting looms. We've had several people ask how to make hats and blankets, so we thought if we had a blanket-making, loom-knitting party, those interested could come learn how to make the items, get acquainted with others who are working on the project, and get materials to take home and work on.

 

So, if you're in the Ada area and you're interested in becoming a part of the Bundle Up team, please send us a Facebook message or reply here if you'd come if we host a party. If there's not enough interest we won't have one, we'll just provide supplies to those who have asked us directly.

 

Thanks so much to all of you who support and help us. We couldn't do it without you!



Bowling Green, Kentucky

 

 

This is what our car looked like when we left for Kentucky early Sunday morning. We were loaded down with 70 gift bags, each filled with a hat, scarf, and blanket we made/collected. We didn't have enough room to fit ourselves and the grand total of 104 bags, so the remaining 34 will be donated to a homeless ministry in OKC (we'll post pictures when we go). Hopefully we'll be making that trip within the next couple of weeks.

While we were in Bowling Green, we worked (and stayed) with Keith and Kris Bridgman (who happen to be the kindest, humblest, most gracious hosts ever) who have a blanket ministry for the homeless and volunteer with an organization called HOTEL INC.

We had an interview with Christian Family Radio, and with the Park City Daily News, which is Bowling Green's Newspaper.

We were able to personally hand-out about 35 blankets. Some we gave out at HOTEL INC's gathering at the Bridge, some we gave out at HOTEL INC's center, and a couple we gave away while visiting areas around town where some homeless stay. We also walked through a field by the river and climbed up the embankment underneath the bridge where several people stay. We found one man there who had just gotten out of the hospital, and we were able to give him a blanket.

 
 

 
 
We left the other 35 blankets with Kris and Keith and with HOTEL INC so that they can give them to others who need them.

Our friend Nancy went with us and helped out. She's a true pal for making that long journey with us!

We learned so much on this trip, both about ourselves and our homeless neighbors. We're so thankful we had the opportunity to deliver the items we made/collected in person. It made a big impact on us!

Maddie - "The whole experience was sad. It’s amazing how many people are out there and how grateful they are. I think that was the first time that I actually realized what I was doing could really make an impact on someone’s life. I can just go and get a blanket out of a closet in my nice warm house, but these people have nothing—no house or blanket. Stuff I take for granted every day? Some people don’t have any of that. It was a big eye-opener, and it makes me want to do a lot more."

Morgan - "This experience made me want to do more to make a difference in the lives of others. It made me realize how much I have and how simple it is to impact other peoples’ lives. It wasn’t that big of a deal when we were making things, but seeing how much something so simple can help—that made me realize that my little can be big to someone else."

Deidra - "I'm still trying to process all we did and saw, but I know for sure I want to do more. We have been blessed with so much and helping our neighbors can be so simple. I learned a lot about grace and compassion on this trip, about how I've lived the majority of my life without enough of it. I'm working on changing that. I'm so grateful for the opportunity we had and I can't wait to see where God takes the Bundle Up Club."

Here's the link to our article in the newspaper (it just happened to make the front page!): http://www.bgdailynews.com/news/oklahoma-twins-visit-distribute-handmade-items-to-homeless/article_86d22524-a39a-5e9f-96cd-a326dab7973c.html#user-comment-area

And here's the link to a video our hosts made (it can only be viewed on a PC, not a phone):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQc0BCYjkD0&feature=youtu.be

The link to our interview with Christian Family Radio isn't available yet, but as soon as it is we'll post it so you can take a listen!

Thank you all so much for your support. We appreciate each one of you!

Project Baby Bundle

We're so excited to announce our next endeavor: Project Baby Bundle! This will be a 10-week mission to help the House of Hope here in Ada, Oklahoma. The House of Hope is a crisis pregnancy center that not only provides support and services to mothers with unplanned pregnancies, but to struggling moms and families with young children as well.

Our goal is to make at least 50 gift bags to donate to the House of Hope. Each gift bag will include a baby blanket and hat. We will be making these items for children ages newborn through three years.

Project Baby Bundle will begin Monday, October 6th and end on Monday, December 15th. This will allow time for us to inventory, package, and deliver all items made/donated before Christmas.

If you'd like to help, there are several ways to get involved. We need help making quilts, afghans, or fleece blankets and hats; we need donations of baby yarn; and we need money to assist us in the purchase of gift bags.

For those of you who knit, quilt, or crochet, please feel free to make any style of baby blanket or hat you like that would be appropriate for a baby ages 0-3 years. We don't have any set guidelines. For those of you who use a knitting loom, here is a picture of the loom sizes we're using

The round looms are obviously used for hats, and the long scarf loom (30 pegs on each side) is what we used to knit this baby afghan, which would be perfect for a newborn.

This is the yarn we used to make the afghan. It's super soft and super warm. The size skein we used (10.5 oz/258 yds) was enough to make one newborn blanket.                                        
If you are making fleece blankets, 1 yard of fleece will make a blanket for a newborn (1 yard cut into two 1/2-yard pieces), and 2 yards of fleece will make a blanket large enough for an older baby/toddler (2 yards cut into two 1-yard pieces). Here's a newborn blanket we made (two 1/2-yard pieces):

 

We are thrilled to be able to give to those less fortunate in our community through this project and can't wait to see what God will do. Plus, we love all the cute baby stuff!

Thanks for all of your help and support for the Bundle Up Club. We couldn't do this without you, and we are so grateful! If you plan on helping with Project Baby Bundle, comment on this blog post or on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/bundleupclub?ref=bookmarks   and be sure to post pictures of what you're working on! Also, if you'd like to make a monetary donation, please visit our gofundme page at http://www.gofundme.com/thebundleupclub

Deadline Day is Here!

We can't believe it's October already! Time has flown by, and in just 11 more days we'll be traveling to Kentucky to deliver our first project to the homeless there. We are amazed by what God has enabled us to accomplish (with your help, of course) over the last several months. When we started this project in May (making hats, scarves, and blankets for the homeless), we had no idea how quickly it would grow. We started with a goal of completing 50 of each item, but within a couple of months we had met that goal. So, we decided to make a new goal of 100 of each item. And today, Deadline Day, because of the generosity and support of others, we are happy to report that we not only met that goal, but exceeded it!

104 gift bags, each containing a hand-made hat, scarf, and blanket

 

Here are our final totals:

104 blankets

125 hats

123 scarves

1 baby cocoon

1 shawl

6 tote bags

1 face warmer/beard

4 head bands/ear muffs

 

This amounts to approximately $3,500!!

 

Remember, all these items are hand-made, and all of this was accomplished in less than 5 months. Amazing!!

 

We used 4 of the tote bags, all of the blankets, 104 hats, and 104 scarves. This means we have 21 extra hats and 19 extra scarves in addition to the other items listed. We will distribute these separately when and where we can.

 

Because of the type of vehicle we have, in addition to some other factors, we will only be able to take 70 of the bags to Kentucky to distribute, but no worries, we have found a good home for the other 34. They will be donated to a homeless ministry in Oklahoma City, and we plan on traveling there at the end of October or beginning of November to deliver them.

 

We are so excited about our trip and can't wait to meet Kris Bridgman and the homeless men and women she helps. We will be sure to take pictures to share with you!

 

One final note:  We don't have the details worked out yet as we are waiting to hear back from the organization, but our next project is for babies! We will be making baby hats and blankets to give to a local crisis pregnancy center. We will let you know items needed, deadlines, and other information as soon as we have it.

 

We can't begin to thank you enough for all of your help and support with this first project. It was a huge success, and we thank God for that.