AdaFest Success and a Tupperware Party

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who came out to see the Bundle Up Club at Ada Fest! The day was a great success. We made $454 from the bake sale, and with other donations that came in over the weekend, we made a grand total of $793.35 for our fall #helpthehomeless ‬project!!

Also, GREAT BIG thanks to all the ladies who volunteered today and helped make baked goods. We couldn't do this without you and we are so grateful!

To Becky & Charles Shinault and all the other fine folks at Hot Shots Coffee House - thank you so much for letting us use your slice of real estate to further our cause. We appreciate all you do!

Finally, thanks to the nameless band - Caleb Manning, Mitchell Galbreaith, Nathaniel Nipper, Eric Crowell, and Jaron Keith for playing some good music for us today. Congrats on your first gig - you guys did great!

 

All the funds we raised over the weekend will be used to purchase supplies to make hats, blankets, and scarves for those affected by homelessness in the Oklahoma City, OK area. Now the real work begins! We will be making items to deliver to Pastor Vernon Carter at the OKC Metro House of Hope from now until mid-November. We plan to partner with The Wave youth group from Abba's House Worship Center here in Ada to deliver and help distribute the items made some time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We'll give you more details about that as we have them.

 

Our friend Mandy has graciously hosted a Tupperware party to benefit The Bundle Up Club. Forty percent of the profits of this party will be donated to our cause! If you're interested in purchasing some great products as well as supporting a great cause, check it out:

 

http://www.tupperware.com/?fundraiser=55e1c928d8687b303caf0e38

 

Finally, we could really use some help making hats, blankets, and scarves. We have a limited number of volunteers working and could use more! If you don't know how to knit or crochet, it's okay -- we can teach you how to use a loom, and if you don't know how to make no-sew fleece blankets, we can teach you that, too. It's super easy to learn! We provide all the supplies needed, so all we need is YOU. Please contact via our Facebook page or email if you'd like to volunteer!

 







https://www.facebook.com/bundleupclub

 

thebundleupclub@gmail.com

 

Updates, AdaFest, & #helpthehomeless

Greetings, All!

It's been a while since we updated the blog, so we thought we'd let you know what's been going on in our world of late. On Friday, July 24th, we delivered the hats and blankets we made for the children who are patients at the Jimmy Everest Center at OU Medical. With the help of our team and the support of those who donated, we made 65 hats and blankets for our #kidswithcancer project!

 

 

 

Thank you so much for your help on this project! We are grateful we had the opportunity to give a little something to these wonderful kids who fight so hard. It is our prayer that God will bless them and their families, and that each time they bundle up in one of our blankets, they'll remember someone is thinking of them and praying for them!

 

 

The Bundle Up Club has been given the opportunity to set up a fundraising booth from 10 am to 4 pm at Hot Shots Coffee House for AdaFest. We'll be selling baked goods and taking donations to raise funds for our fall #helpthehomeless project. Come see us at Hot Shots, and be sure to visit all of the groups and merchants up and down Main Street, donate to the blood drive, enjoy the music and stay for the festival on ECU’s plaza from 5-11 pm. Hope to see you there!

Our #helpthehomeless project is in full swing! This year we'll be donating hats, blankets, and scarves to the Metro House of Hope in Oklahoma City. Our goal is to make at least 100 of each item to give this homeless ministry, and we will travel to OKC some time in November to deliver and help distribute what we have made. If you are interested in working with us on this project, we could use your help! We have plenty of yarn, but are currently in need of fleece for making blankets. Also, we need people to help us make items. We provide the supplies!

If you are interested in helping us any way, please contact us via our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/bundleupclub  or email us at thebundleupclub@gmail.com

If you're interested in giving monetarily, you can send a cash or check, or donate online at gofundme.com/bundleupclub



Tell Me Something Good and Project Updates

It's been a while since we updated the blog because we've been busy working on hats and blankets for our #kidswithcancerproject. This project will be complete on June 30th, and once we get everything inventoried, we'll make the trip to Oklahoma City to the Jimmy Everest Center at OU Medical to give the items we've made to our contact there so that they can be distributed to the patients. We set a goal of 50 hats and 50 blankets for this endeavor, and we're happy to report that we reached that number!

We'd like to thank everyone who has helped us make hats and tie blankets - we couldn't do it without you! We're going to continue working until the deadline so that we can donate as many hats and blankets as we can. Once we've made the delivery, we'll announce our final totals.

Our plan is to take the month of July to raise funds and organize supplies so that by August 1 we can begin working on hats, scarves, and blankets to be donated to the homeless this fall/winter. Our plan is to go to Oklahoma City and work with Pastors Vernon and Marilyn Carter at the Metro House of Hope in their homeless outreach program. Our goal for this project will be 100 hats, scarves, and blankets. If you're interested in donating money or supplies to this cause, please feel free to contact us via email, or you can give monetarily directly on our gofundme page. The links to both are listed on the right sidebar.

And now, Tell Me Something Good! A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to do an interview with Mike Brooks of KOKH Fox 25 in Oklahoma City. The story aired last night on the newscast in his "Tell Me Something Good" segment. We're so thankful for this chance to not only tell our story to a larger audience, but to raise awareness and hopefully inspire others to do what they can where they are with what they have. If you'd like to watch the segment, here's the link:

 

http://www.okcfox.com/story/29128348/the-bundle-up-club-of-Oklahoma

 

 

 



Blanket Parties, Project Dates, and Other Updates

On Sunday, February 15th, The Bundle Up Club co-sponsored a blanket party with the girl's/women's ministry of Trinity Baptist Church. The Bundle Up Club, along with members of Trinity, sponsored the purchase of fleece to make blankets for the teens currently residing at the Cypress Hill Youth Home. The Bundle Up Club cut the fleece and got it ready, and then got together with some girls and ladies from Trinity to make the blankets. Twenty-eight attended the party, and we were able to make all 41 of the blankets in just 2 1/2 hours! Some other ladies from Trinity have volunteered to personalize the blankets by embroidering the names of the teens on them, and once that is complete, a representative from Trinity will deliver the blankets to the students at the Home. We are so thankful for the opportunity to partner with such a wonderful group of people, and we look forward to the possibility of more co-sponsorships in the future!

 

As you know, our next two projects for this year will be for kids with cancer who are treated at the Jimmy Everest Center of OU Medical in OKC, and for those who struggle with homelessness in the OKC area through the OKC Metro House of Hope and Pastors Vernon and Marilyn Carter. The childhood cancer project will begin March 1st and will end on June 30th. Our goal is to complete at least 50 hats and blankets. We will take the month of July off for fundraising and organization, and then we will start the homeless project August 1st. The ending date for this project will be November 14th, and our goal is to make at least 75 hats, blankets, and scarves to be distributed before the beginning of winter.

 

We have scheduled a scarf loom/blanket-making party for Saturday, March 21st from 2:00-5:00 p.m. Most everyone has learned how to make hats with the knitting loom, so at this party we will teach those interested how to use a knitting loom to make scarves. We have also purchased enough fleece for 27 blankets, and we will be making these blankets as well. Make plans now to come join us for food, fellowship, and fun! *If possible, please bring your own scarf loom and yarn. Scarf looms come in various sizes and look like this

This package is available at Joann's Fabrics and can be purchased online or in store for $24.99. It contains a hook, yarn needle, and 4 sizes of looms. Walmart also carries scarf looms occasionally. If you can't find one or purchase one, no worries, we have a few available to loan.

Also, if you'd like to start working on hats for the Jimmy Everest Center kids, please be sure to get yarn that is soft and not itchy as this would be uncomfortable for bald heads. We found some at our local Walmart that would work well and is relatively inexpensive at $2.97 per skein.           
                                  
The age range for the kids treated at the center is 2-18, so we will need various hat sizes. We will be making standard size blankets (4 yards - two 2-yard pieces) for this project.

Right now, our biggest limitation is a financial one. We were able to raise enough money from our bake sale (about $600) to purchase the fleece for 27 blankets and the yarn for about 25 hats. This is obviously only enough for us to make it half way to our goal. We are accepting donations of fleece, yarn, and money, so if you'd like to give, please contact us for our address. You can make checks payable to The Bundle Up Club, or you can donate online through our gofundme page. The link is on the right side-bar of this page. Sponsorships are also available. To sponsor a child with cancer, the cost is $25 to purchase and make a blanket and hat. To sponsor a person who struggles with homelessness, a donation of $35 would cover the cost of materials for a blanket, hat, and scarf.

We really appreciate all of your help and support, and are excited about what God is doing and the opportunities we have to serve this year!


We're Official!

We are now officially registered as a nonprofit organization in the state of Oklahoma! This was a big step for us and we are super excited! We are currently in the process of working to obtain 501(c)(3) status from the IRS so that donations will be tax deductible. It's a long, daunting task, but we are excited about the possibilities for our future.

 

Thank you all so much for your help and support - we couldn't do it without you!

 

 

Volunteer Opportunity!

Want to help out in our community? Want to learn more about the Bundle Up Club? Want to fellowship with other ladies and learn how to make fleece blankets? Come join us! All materials will be provided and instruction will be given. All we need is you! 

 

New Projects and Other Exciting Developments!

If you haven't heard already, we are gearing up to start on our first two projects of 2015. The first project will benefit the 32 residents of Cypress Group Home, a local shelter for troubled youth. We're joining forces with the girl's ministry of Trinity Baptist Church and will be making blankets. Our plan is to have a Saturday work day in which the girl's group and volunteers of the Bundle Up Club get together to make all the blankets in one day. Stay tuned for details!

Our second project will benefit the patients of the Jimmy Everest Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders in Children at OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City. We will be making hats and blankets for the children and teens treated there. Our donations will be given through the Oklahoma Children's Cancer Association. We are currently trying to raise funds for these projects, so if you would like to make a donation of fleece, yarn, or money, we would greatly appreciate it! You can contact us at our new email address thebundleupclub@gmail.com for more information on how to give.

Also, for all our local peeps, we are having a bake sale to raise funds. Send us an email or visit our Facebook page to place your order. Morgan will begin baking all the goodies next week! We need to raise as much money as possible so that we can begin purchasing materials for our projects.

And now for the exciting developments.....we are currently in the process of obtaining non-profit status! Woo-Hoo!! This will not only establish the Bundle Up Club as a real organization, but will allow your charitable contributions to be tax deductible as well. We are just getting started with this and have a lot of work to do, but we are excited and thankful we have this opportunity. We'll keep you updated on our status!