64 replies to this topic

[joshfan7]

Hello to everyone at JoshGroban.com. I would like to start a fresh thread on this new board to enlist the help of anyone who knits/crochets/quilts or sews. We already have a thread on FOJG, but we will post here regularly for anyone interested in what we do.

The Covered With Love Project started three years ago; actually, we just finished our third year with a total of 3,093 beanies and 264 blankets being delivered to Children's Hospitals across the country and in Sweden. We make beanies in sizes Newborn through Teens and blankets for all ages of children. If you are interested in becoming a part of our project, please jump in and get involved. We have a wonderful group of volunteers who find this work to be extremely rewarding. Everyone is very helpful. We have people who make a few beanies for a hospital and those who make them by the dozens. Every single one counts because it will put a smile on the face of a child who is ill. Beanies and blankets can contain no WOOL, so we use acrylic yarn and sometimes cotton. The main thing is that they need to be of SOFT yarn for the patients. We work throughout the year for upcoming deliveries and serve 4 hospitals in the U.S. each year. Also, Annika serves a hospital in Sweden. If you would like to help her and it's closer for you, she would love to get to know you.

The Tender Totes and Heavenly Dreams Team makes colorful pillowcases and tote bags for Shriner's Hospitals and Children's Hospitals. They would love to have your help if you sew. This team usually does a big drive during the summer months, however, they would like to have items made and stockpiled throughout the year.

If you would like to help with either of these projects but do not actually do the hand work, you can always donate fabric or yarn for the other team members to make the items. We do not accept gift cards or money in any form, however, you can donate money to Grobanites For Charity to be designated for the postage/shipping fund for either of these teams. We do a LOT of shipping of large boxes to get our items delivered to the hospitals.

We do have a website which is www.tendertotes.org and you can see more of what we do and reach either Lynn or me through the site. Please post here or send me an email at janicecwl@comcast.net to let us know you'd like to work for the children, and we will be very happy to help you get started.

Everyone is welcome and we'd love to get to know you.

[Grammie Lynn]

Thanks Janice for starting a thread in JG.com. I am Lynn Allred and started Tendertotes and Heavenly Dreams in 2005. We make pillow cases and tote bags for the children at Shriners Hospitals across the country. We just finished our 5th drive at the end of September. We also make Christmas pillow cases for the Optimist Foster Care Center in the LA area and for the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. Between Covered With Love and Tender Totes we have made and donated almost 30,000 items. We would love to have any of you join in the fun. If you don't sew, you can donate fabric or $$ for our postage fund. Our website is tendertotes.org or you can contact me directly at lynnallred@gmail.com.

Lynn

[artquilter]

Hi Janice,
I finally figured out how to get myself on the message boards. I hope your post inspires more Grobies to join our group. It's so much fun and so rewarding. I get together with friends and we knit beanies while watching a video or two and then have a potluck meal. We also have quilting days in my dining room. It's lots of fun to work together and we get more done, even with all the talking. We sew while listing to Josh.
Keep up the good work!
artquilter

[joshfan7]

Hi Janice,
I finally figured out how to get myself on the message boards. I hope your post inspires more Grobies to join our group. It's so much fun and so rewarding. I get together with friends and we knit beanies while watching a video or two and then have a potluck meal. We also have quilting days in my dining room. It's lots of fun to work together and we get more done, even with all the talking. We sew while listing to Josh.
Keep up the good work!
artquilter

Hi! Nice to see you here! OMJ, that sound like so much fun, and that must be sooo motivating! I'm going to try to have a day like that here in Northern CA very soon. Grobies have good times doing wonderful things for the children. Awesome!

[joshfan7]

Stopping by to say Merry Christmas to everyone here. Hope it's the best ever.

I do have some volunteers on this forum and I want to say a huge thank you to those who helped to make 2009 a super successful year for the Covered With Love Project. So much of yourselves goes into everything that you make for the hospitalized kids, and I can't express how much it means to me. You make many sick children very happy. Hope you will hang in for 2010 and keep the love going to the kids in the form of beanies and blankets and totes and pillow cases. YAL!

[upstatescjgfan]

Do you have specific color requirements for donated yarn? I have a co-worker whose mother died recently, leaving behind "several large boxes of yarn" (as she used to work for a yarn mill around here), and no one in the family knits or crochets. The co-worker is interested in donating the yarn to charitable organizations that will use it. I am still trying to find out what kind of fiber -- and colors -- she has, but am putting out feelers for different groups, depending on what the yarn is; animal shelters for cheap/rough acrylic, helmet-liner knitters/ cold-weather knitters for wool, and so on.

[joshfan7]

Do you have specific color requirements for donated yarn? I have a co-worker whose mother died recently, leaving behind "several large boxes of yarn" (as she used to work for a yarn mill around here), and no one in the family knits or crochets. The co-worker is interested in donating the yarn to charitable organizations that will use it. I am still trying to find out what kind of fiber -- and colors -- she has, but am putting out feelers for different groups, depending on what the yarn is; animal shelters for cheap/rough acrylic, helmet-liner knitters/ cold-weather knitters for wool, and so on.

Hi Jan and thank you for asking. We use only very soft acrylic or cotton yarn for our work because items go to very sick children, some of whom lose their hair. We cannot use WOOL in anything because of allergies. The one acrylic yarn that we stay away from is SuperSaver only because it is too rough. We would love to have yarn donated if it is of the soft acrylic type; we are getting ready to begin year four and will be needing a lot of yarn. If you think you have some to ship, I will find a volunteer who can use it. We appreciate that you thought of us. Thank you!

[Vicki]

Hi there. I am relatively new to the boards and love to crochet. I don't make beanies, but do love to crochet baby blankets and afghans. Is there a specific time of the year that you collect them? I'll start working on one right away.
Vicki

[joshfan7]

Hi there. I am relatively new to the boards and love to crochet. I don't make beanies, but do love to crochet baby blankets and afghans. Is there a specific time of the year that you collect them? I'll start working on one right away.
Vicki

Hi Vicki! Thanks for stopping by. The Covered With Love Team works all year. I am getting ready to line up our hospitals for 2010. We make four deliveries, usually quarterly. Right now it looks like our first delivery will be late Feb. or early March and we will be going to Tacoma, WA (The Mary Bridge Children's Hospital). We just keep working on items and stockpiling them until it is time to ship to the first area. We would LOVE to have your help. This is a really nice group of people doing very worthwhile things. WELCOME!

Those of you who have been working this year might like to read this letter that came from L.A. I made a delivery there of 552 beanies and 81 blankets on Dec. 4th.

"It gives me great pleasure to thank you for your donation to the patients of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. The blankets and hats are lovely and will certainly brighten the spirits of our patients who have to spend their entire holiday season in the Hospital. And, we are so touched that you would take time to think of others so in need.

Peace, joy, and love can be practiced all the months of the year. Through your generous contribution and your commitment to the children we serve, you have reminded us that the spirit and magic of the season can thrive, not only during this special time, but all year long as well.

Your gift makes a real and significant impact on the fragile lives of the children in our care. They now realize that someone beyond these walls is concerned enough to care about them, too. On behalf of the patients and families, thank you for your generosity."

Wendi
Manager, Volunteer Resources

[Vicki]

Do you have a crochet pattern for the beanies that you could send me?

[joshfan7]

Do you have a crochet pattern for the beanies that you could send me?

Hi Vicki,

Sending you a PM with links to some of my favorite beanie patterns. There are some really good sites on-line that have free patterns to share.

[joshfan7]

Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you know that our first two CWL deliveries of 2010 are lined up. We will be going to the Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma, WA for the first one (hopefully the first week of March). In the Spring we will be going to the East Tennessee Children's Hospital in Knoxville, TN. I'm working on adding hospital number 3 which will be one that we served in our first year, 2007. More to come!

Are you ready???? Let's get started on beanies and blankets.

[menderle]

Hi! I'm new on this board but I'm not new to tender totes. I've been sewing forever I'm on the project committee. We had a conference call recently to plan out our activities for this year. It looks to be another good year with a lot of sick children benefiting from our efforts!

[joshfan7]

Just stopping by to let everyone know that the third hospital on the list for Covered With Love deliveries in 2010 will be the Shands Children's Hospital in Gainesville, FL. This was one of our very first deliveries in 2007, and we will return there in the summer with another delivery for the children.

I was contacted through www.tendertotes.org by a new volunteer and I have not been able to contact her. I have tried a few different ways through email and each time it is aborted immediately. Barbara L., if you are reading here, please send me another message to janicecwl@comcast.net or try to send a message through here. I'd love to get you the information that you requested about beanies.

Have a great day everyone!

[joshfan7]

Carol K., if you read here, please post to let me know or send me a PM. I have received your email from the CWL contact form on the website, and I have replied, but I don't know if the email is getting lost somewhere in space. I seem to be having trouble getting through to you. Thanks so much.

[joshfan7]

Just stopping by to let you know that if you are working on any items for the Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in WA, they need to be shipped to arrive there no later than Feb. 26th so that they can be sorted and packed for delivery on March 1st. Contact me at janicecwl@comcast.net if you need a shipping address. Thanks everyone!

[cingris]

I heard that the no-sews blankets at JoAnnes, the precut ones, are 50% off right now

[joshfan7]

We had our first delivery of 2010 on March 1st. One of our volunteers delivered 449 beanies and 89 blankets to the young patients of the Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma, WA. HOOOOOORAY!!!!! Thanks to everyone who participated....YOU ARE THE BEST!

[joshfan7]

Getting ready for the second CWL delivery of 2010. Items will be delivered to the East Tennessee Children's Hospital, hopefully May 7th. If you are interested in helping with this one, just jump in here and let me know or send an email to janicecwl@comcast.net. We'd love to get to know you and have your help.

[upstatescjgfan]

For my Lenten discipline this year, I am limiting my knitting to charitable items -- baby beanies, older child/small-adult chemo caps and prosthetic breasts. I've been really sick for the last 2 1/2 weeks (too sick to knit!), so my output isn't very high, but I should have half a dozen baby beanies (at least) by mid-April, or whenever I need to mail them.