Saturday, August 16, 2008

Antics!

I'm so glad that I decided to do Antics! Looking for humanitarian oriented things to donate my time and money to has really made me find things I'd overlooked before. So far I:
1)Donated these two books to Read! 365 (they were thrilled to get them -- they said that there was a real need for books for older kids.)














2)Made a financial contribution to The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. This organization came up this week first as an informational seminar at work (which I had to miss because I was in a meeting) which put it on my radar, and then I just happened to get a solicitation in the mail! Kismet!
3)Contribution to UMCOR - The United Methodist Committee on Relief. I was discussing the Antics with Dave this morning and saying how I was looking to donate to a charity geared towards helping children globally and we discussed UNICEF. Well, Dave doesn't like their politics lately, so he wasn't keen on that (I have no issue with their politics, and I didn't ask for specifics from Dave. We don't see eye to eye politically and this was something I decided it was better just not to know). So I asked him for an organization he would be happy with (it's his money too, you know) but he really couldn't come up with one. I thought of UMCOR and asked "What about UMCOR?" He had no problem, so I went to their website to find out how to contribute. And look at THIS, you can send them relief kits. The Layette Kit includes a baby sweater! They specify button in the front, and I'm also assuming (though they don't say) machine wash/dry. So I'm using this yarn (Moda Dea Sassy Stripes) to knit a BSJ. I'm also buying supplies for a Back to School Kit or two (Celtic Queen says they have the crayons at Target for 19 cents!) while the supplies are out there on sale. And I think I know some people who might have some fabric in their stashes that could become a Sewing Kit. Anyways, here's the deal. If you send me your hand knit sweater I will pony up the rest of the supplies to make a layette kit and send it off to UMCOR. I'm going to say until I get some kind of confirmation that the sweater has to be machine wash/dry so that means synthetic or cotton blends. Button up the front -- how about the 5HBS (which is supposed to be knit for charity anyways, right?) or Tulip & Rocketry (Heather knit a gorgeous Rocketry using Cotton-Ease), or Babies & Bears. That's just a few, there are tons out there.

3 comments:

Rachel said...

Good for you!

Heather said...

you should check out Kiva.org, too.
There are so many ways to help others... thanks for pointing out a few.

Mary Lou said...

These are great ideas, thanks.