Bowl Cozies, Freebie Table & Reusable Grocery Bags

 Thanks to everyone who came for the "Sew One" and "Share One" parts of the Bowl Cozies. We are excited to be able to drop off your generous donations of time and talent to Meals For Wheels. Look at these happy sewists!

Our next meeting is on March 16, when we will be doing a final tally and reveal of the Bowl Cozies and working on some of our regular projects.

NEW We are hosting a FREEBIE table. Bring your sewing-related excess and drop it off on table. Rummage through it all and take whatever tickles your fancy...all, part, or none. Left overs will be donated. 

Please join us on March 30 for "Sew One" and on April 13 for "Share One"  Reusable Shopping Bags. Two local food pantries will be the recipients of this fun sewing project. NOTE: Precutting MUST be done before class, as there will not be class time available for cutting. RSVP by 3/27 to receive precutting instructions.

QOV Pillowcases & Quilt Top Update

It was an exciting kick off to our new "Sew One; Share One" 2023 theme for Busy Hands for All. This year projects are in two parts. Part one is bring your supplies, learn a new project and keep it for yourself! Part two, is at the next meeting, use our supplies, repeat the project and donate it to a local charity! Homework kits are available.

 "Sew One" pillowcases happiness!

Thank you to everyone who sewed pillowcases in the part two "Share One"  for Quilts of Valor! The local Quilts of Valor chapter were very excited and grateful to receive 95 beautifully sewn pillowcases from our group! They loved the different fabric choices and were very pleased with the sewing. The pillowcases will be used as presentation cases for the quilts. A presentation case is like a gift wrapping for a Quilt of Valor. Presentation cases are always required for QOVs going to overseas destinations and to the medical facilities on their Continuing Destinations List. They are also used for local QOV. Great job Busy Hands!!! 

Camp David has enough quilts for two seasons now! Camp David is a summer camp in June and July each year for children who have a parent in prison. The quilts are used by ids during their camp stay, serving as a blanket of love for the children. when camp is over, they take the quilts home with them as a reminder of their experience. Way to go Busy Hands for wrapping kids in your quilts and love!

We will continue to make quilt tops for Our Ladies Inn - keep sewing and wrapping other in quilts and love!

Please Join us for Bow Cozy "Sew One; Share One"!

 

 

Love Packages is ALWAYS in need of Bibles and Christian literature to feed the gospel to people overseas.  Please spread the word that those items laying around the house are needed. 

Contact me at 636-357-2400 or ttravers6927@gmail.com or busyhands4all@gmail.com to make arrangements. 

Donate your new or used Bibles to Pastors overseas.

                                                           Lovepackages.org

Love Packages is fueling international missions work and sending the gospel to the ends of the earth by putting donated bibles and other Christian literature into the hands of people around the world.

The following materials are accepted and needed to spread the Gospel.

Bibles – New or Used, any translation or language, New Testaments or other portions, individual Gospels

Reference Materials – Dictionaries, Bible dictionaries, concordances, commentaries, anything a Pastor would use for study

Bible Studies - Must have the leaders guide to go along with the individual study guides

Books – All christian non-fiction books, Adult and Children

Magazines and Daily Devotionals – Any devotionals or magazines from a christian publishers, Our Daily bread

Sunday School Materials – Adult quarterlies and all teacher manuals in any amount from all publishers: Children’s quarterlies with the teachers manual and full student manuals

Cassettes, CD’s, DVD’s and Blu Ray – Music, movies, teachings from well known speakers like Billy Graham, Chuck Swindoll, etc (NO VHS)

Tracts – All tracts 

Puppets, Nativity sets, VBS – Bible games, puzzles, anything that teaches the gospel to children.

Drop off your donations to The Travers - 930 Hampshire Heath Dr, Ofallon, MO 63368.

Or the Family Vision Library, . 2020 Parkway Drive St. Peters, MO 63376 

Questions – call Tina Travers at 636-357-2400 or ttravers6927@gmail.com or if you require pickup.

Love Packages is always in need of help with sorting and packing books. Adults and kids can serve and learn about their mission. Butler, IL is about 1-1/2 hrs from ST. Louis. Love packages website is lovepackages.org and they can be found on Facebook also. Monetary donations can be sent to Love Packages, 220 Union St, Butler, IL  62015

 The Sewing Machines have arrived in Haiti!

God worked another miracle and got the container with the sewing machines delivered, unloaded and distribution started in less than one month!  There are containers still sitting in Haiti from a year ago waiting to be released by their corrupt government. 

It was such a wonderful surprise to hear that 2 of the 4 machines were already in the hands of new owners. 

Days for Girls humanitarian efforts in Ukraine for refugees and displaced persons

Days for Girls humanitarian efforts in Ukraine for refugees and displaced persons

We have all watched in horror, with the entire global community, as violence and war have come to the country of Ukraine. As we know, the unique needs of women and girls are often left out of humanitarian responses. Days for Girls is poised to respond just as we have in other countries impacted by conflict and humanitarian crises. Citizens and residents of Ukraine affected by the crisis need your help.

Sewn components you have sent throughout 2021 and early 2022 are ready to go to the border of Ukraine and neighboring countries. Thank you to everyone who has been sewing components. Because of you, Days for Girls is ready to respond quickly to this need!

When working with Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), especially in acute, immediate crises such as what is taking place in Ukraine, providing menstrual product options is essential. Circumstances differ and can change hourly. Being on the move means access to water, soap, washing, and drying facilities, or privacy may not be available. For this reason, the needs of refugees and IDPs will be best met by supplying disposables and Hybrid Kits (a customized Kit that includes both washable and disposable options). These options provide choice, flexibility, and short- and long-term options as individuals’ circumstances change.

While the vast majority of donations are tangible and can be placed right in girls’ hands, other costs move those donations to the right place. They benefit the populations we serve. For this project, these donations will support the operation costs of printing additional education information, underwear, pallets, boxes, disposable products if needed, and shipping costs.

If you can please donate at https://donate.daysforgirls.org/campaign/chapters-and-teams-refugee-project/c232735

Ask and you shall receive

I love to see God work. If you keep your eyes and ears open you will be an active part of it. 

In less than 10 days, a comment about a need for treadle sewing machines for Haiti became a filled reality. 

Sometimes God works fast! We started looking for two treadle machines and ended up with four. Four machines from the late 1800's-early 1900s were generously donated from Granite City, IL and Warrenton, Fenton, and O'Fallon, MO.  They were picked up and cleaned up and are now in a container leaving for Haiti on Sept. 18th along with bolts and boxes of fabric, thread, and sewing notions. What a blessing they will be to women looking for a way to earn income and learn a skill. 

 Busy Hands helping Haiti

We are blessed to have a direct connection to the non-profit Global Compassion and the ability to help in Haiti. The generous donations of fabric we have received over the years were used to create 53 Nanny Aprons, which will be shipping to Haiti on Sept 18th in the Global Compassions container. The aprons will be given to the women who serve as Nannys and Cooks in the orphanages and schools there.  

 Welcome STL CRET to our Busy Hands Team!

We are blessed to have a whole new group join us in our mission to serve others. On June 2nd we welcomed 20 members of STL CRET to our group. Even though our groups are not close in locale, we all have the same heart to serve.  It was wonderful to share patterns and instructions on Bibs, Burps, Sharing Hearts, Pencil bags, No tie blankets, Teddy Bears and Octopi and inform them about the need for these items and the people that will benefit from them.  Their talent and energy is great and we look forward to working with STL CRET now and into the future.  

Look at our new home.  Come and join us! 

We have plenty of room!  Look for the Welcome ironing board out front.

 Mastectomy items added to our growing list of projects

If you know of someone going through cancer or any major surgery that is in need of items to help make them more comfortable, please contact Tina.  We can help with pillows for support around incisions, clothing for double mastectomy patients, port pillows and more.  

                                                       Mastectomy camisole with drain pockets

                                    Mastectomy t shirt with pockets for drains

Wrap around Comfort pillow for the chest and various small size comfort pillows

Days for Girls Chad project delivery made April 8th

Thank you to everyone who took part in any way with this project to help the girls in Chad. With a lot of hard work and many hours at the sewing machine, our team was able to sew 636 Shields, 1164 Liners, 16 Transport bags, and 126  Drawstring bags.  And generous donations were made by others of 388 pair of underwear, 216 washcloths and 657 bars of soap.  These items filled the back of Colette's car and were delivered to a drop off home in Liberty, Mo.  That ladies home was taken over by the generosity of Days for Girls teams in several states near by, from basement to 2 car garage and part of her living room. 

Upon delivery we learned that EVERY ITEM WAS CHECKED FOR QUALITY.  Even though we are a Gold standard team, our items were all inspected for quality too.  We were able to obtain copies of the templates that they were using and will incorporate them into our quality control also.  

Thank you all for your willingness to help with such a worthy project. 

 

 We received a call for Days From The Chad Humanitarian Response Project! Chad is situated at the confluence of simultaneous and overlapping conflicts and insecurity, resulting in large numbers of refugees, IDPs, and Chad returnees. At present, Chad hosts over 470,000 refugees from Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Nigeria, as well as 330,000 IDPs, mostly around the Lake Chad region whose experiences have been compounded by COVID-19.

In partnership with Watoto Read and the Jesuit Refugee Service, DfG Chapters and Teams have the opportunity to step up to meet the urgent need of 21,000 refugees, IDPs, and Returnees in Chad.  Together we can reach refugees, IDPs, and returnees with menstrual health, dignity, and opportunity! What a difference we can make together.

I have spoken with Aliy and Laura. We are doing an inventory of items currently on hand. We have a good head start on items thanks to all of you!!

If you have anything you would like to sew or include we have a little notice this time! They are accepting: Kits (packed DfG supreme), individual sewn components (shields, bags, transport bags, liners), and individual non-sewn components (soap, washcloths, underwear - Girl's XS, S, M & L ). Just a reminder that DfG has fully transitioned to transport bags. We no longer send Ziplock bags. 

All items are due between April 1-14. I will drive our items to the distribution point near Kansas City on Thursday, April 8. I have contacted our distribution center. You can send or drop off items at my home at 4 Forest Dale Ct., O’Fallon, MO 63368 on or before Wednesday, March 31. Also, Aliy or I will be available to pick up items or meet you part of the way! Text me at 636-293-6665.

DfG Kits will be packed and shipped from distribution centers to Chad by Watoto Read. From there they will be sent to 13 refugee camps where the Jesuit Refugee Service will distribute Kits and teach the Ambassador of Women's Health curriculum. Any kits over the 21,000 requested will be allocated to other countries when opportunities arise in the Blue DfG Impact zone.

Together we can make a difference!

 

Big News!

Busy Hands 4 All is moving in March 2021.

Waypoint Church has graciously allowed us to use an awesome space for all future sewing dates.  The room is a large space with ample lighting, electrical outlets, tables and chairs and most importantly, STORAGE! This move will allow us to start meeting and still follow Covid rules. And no longer have to deal with stairs.  The room is close to the side entry doors, rest rooms and level parking lot.  

I can't thank Waypoint enough for bringing this dream to reality.  I look forward to meeting with our current members again and opening up to more people wishing to serve others through sewing. 

We will return to meeting on Thursday mornings at 9 am until Noon or 1pm.  If there is interest in adding an evening or weekend in the future, that might be possible.   The first date to begin is not finalized yet as there is a lot to get moved before I'll be ready to open the doors.  Please stay tuned for another email.  I'll try for as early in March as possible. 

Here are photos of the entrance and the room.  The doors we will use are to the left of the main entrance.

The address is Waypoint Church 4075 Old Hwy 94 S, St Charles, MO 63304

Generous donation

We received an extremely generous donation of fabric for making masks! Thank you to Darice Incorporated for 500 bolts equaling 4,360 yards of fabric. Darice previously sent us 100 bolts for mask making.

We donated fabric to St. Luke's Hospital, Masked Mamas, Wentzville Senior Center, Navajo Nation and members of Busy Hands for making cloth masks.
We were also able to sell a portion to fund our purchase of flannel for charity sewing for organizations such as Sweet Babies and Days for Girls.

Thank your Cheryl Darnell for connecting us with Darice and making it all possible!

DfG Masks4Millions

Hello Maskateers & Anyone Needing Cloth Masks!

As of this morning, we have delivered 140 masks locally and are still sewing.

Thank you to our wonderful volunteer sewists for your willingness to step up to create face masks for medical professionals and immune-compromised individuals!

Thank you for all of the generous donations of fabric and elastic. We are accepting donations of sewing elastic (1/4", 3/8" or cord), 100% cotton fabric, 100% cotton thread. Please email us at BusyHands4All@gmail.com. The elastic is in short supply. Thank you!

Days for Girls' emails and phone lines have been flooded with requests for face masks to distribute to medical personnel and patients around the world. Together, we are ready to pivot to answer the call! If you need face masks, please fill out the form at www.DaysforGirls.org, and we will do everything we can to meet your needs. It is really easy! Here are step-by-step instructions to request masks.

Step 1: Go to www.DaysforGirls.org. Scroll to this mask image  & click "Learn More".

Step 2: Click "Request Masks".

Step 3: Fill in the form (this is a sample image, not a real form). Click "Submit Request".

If you have any questions or elastic/fabric/thread donations - please contact us.

Stay Calm & Sew ON! Stay safe.

With gratitude,

Days for Girls O'Fallon MO Team & Busy Hands4All