Although we are officially off-duty for our stake humanitarian Tuesday morning service days, we'll be back up and rearing to go in the fall, so we have lots to do to prepare! There are still several ways that you can help this summer to make our humanitarian efforts easier in the fall!
1) Donate money-- we don't have a budget, so we need funds to keep our projects running! If you can donate, even $5 will help! Simply fill out a paper tithing form, and where it says "Other", write in: "Sew Much Love, Auburn Stake Humanitarian" with the amount. (This won't work if you put it in the Humanitarian section or if you do it online)
2) When you're on vacation, pick up travel size shampoos, soaps, etc. at hotels! These are PERFECT for our hygiene kits! Tell your family and friends to gather the free hotel samples and bring them in! Here is a picture of some of the kits we completed this past Tuesday, donated to the Auburn Food Bank!
3) Summer is a great time to clean and organize your house! Why not go through your fabric? In the fall, we'll be making Halloween and Christmas quilts, so if you are able to donate any fabric, we would be much appreciated! (Any fabric will do, of course, even if it's not Holiday themed!) Also, keep your eye out for summer sales on sheets and fabrics and feel free to pick up some for the cause!
4) We are looking for people who can sew quilts (pillowcase!) We have lots of sisters who come and help in other ways, but we can get bogged down and back logged if we don't have enough sisters sewing quilt tops. If you need instruction, we'd be THRILLED to teach you how and you can make them at your own time at home during the summer. This will help immensely in the fall when we're back in business!
5) Invite your fellow ward members and friends to join our FB group "Sew Much Love" or follow our blog! Then they can see upcoming posts during the summer and get excited about serving in the fall.
Happy Summer!
Thanks to everyone who came to our last Sew Much Love day today before our summer break! We got a lot done, had some great treats, and had a great time!
This past Tuesday, we had our usual humanitarian project volunteer work, but we had visitors from LifeCenter Northwest! We have been working with their organization for a few years now, and we love partnering with them! If you want to know more about what their organization does in detail, feel free to read about it on a previous post. 5 of their staff members came to see how we operate, to sew with us, and to have a big Hawaiian Haystack lunch! They were so grateful for all of the work that we put into our quilts for the families with whom they work. It was also so great to have so many volunteers (double our usual number!) and to share what we do with others in the community. Thanks to everyone who came and participated! It was wonderful to see so many faces and accomplish so much!
The official pictures are coming soon, but here are the amateur shots that I got quickly:
Yesterday during our ward's testimony meeting, Sister Arlene Housman got up and spoke about how much the Lord has helped during her time helping with the Stake Humanitarian projects. She bore her testimony about how when you are serving the Lord, He will make it possible to do what you are trying to do, even when it seems hard.
She shared a few examples: Because Sew Much Love is based off of donations, we don't have much of a budget. We were in need of new shelving units for the materials in our closets at the Stake Center, but had no money to purchase expensive lumber. One day, Arlene was driving and saw a pile of lumber outside of someone's house with a "Free" sign. She rushed home and picked up her husband and her truck to go and retrieve the lumber. She said that it was a huge amount of lumber and wanted to make sure it was actually free, so she knocked and asked. The man had done some construction for a business, and this was the leftover lumber. He used what he needed, and set the rest outside for any takers. Arlene was so thrilled to find this much free lumber! The pieces were large and would make perfect shelves for our humanitarian closets. This would've cost a lot of money, but because Arlene was in the right place at the right time, the lumber was free. The Lord truly provides for those are seeking to help others and do good.
Arlene also shared about how she helps gather the materials for the hygiene kits for the homeless. Whenever she is running low on something, whether it is travel sized shampoo or soap or whatnot, someone always seems to call or drop off a donation at just the right time. It always seems to work out in the end. Once she also got a call from a hotel that had a donation of 500 used washcloths, which was a huge donation. When we serve the Lord, things fall into place, because it is His work and His children we are serving.
I was so thankful for Arlene's testimony. It can be hard work to serve our fellowman, whether it be our time or our talents or financially, but when we seek to do hard things for the benefit of others, the Lord will always guide our efforts.
