Festival of the Trees Coming Up

Children are one third of our population and all of our future. ~Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health, 1981

On Tuesday, November 17, we gathered at Kathy's home to finish our small tree for the Festival of Trees.  Ornaments, bows, lights and the star all have to be wired securely onto the tree, so it can be easily transported to it's final home.

Ardis, Kathy, Sandy and Judy - decorating has begun!

Judy, Kathy, Carolyn and Ardis

Paulette putting on the final touch.

Our finished project, ready to go to Salt Lake.

The Festival of Trees will be held December 2-5 at the Southtowne Center in south Salt Lake.

Mothers Without Borders Boutique

"Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man." ~Rabindranath Tagore

The Mothers Without Borders Boutiques were held November 6 and 7 in Lehi and Layton.  Five of us went to the Mt. Timpanogas Temple Friday morning, then we met at Porter's Place in Lehi for Lunch.  Afterward, we went to the boutique in Lehi that was held at the Mellor Hidden Meadows Mansion. 

The boutique was filled with beautiful items that were made in Africa by women who are being lifted and helped by the MWB program, as well as many hand crafted items from local artisans and crafters.  Beautiful jewelry, wood carvings, dolls that are named after some of the little girls in Africa, crocheted scarves, quilts, seasonal decor, clothing, carved canes, and all sorts of fine handiwork were available at the boutique as well as great five minute massages.

We even got to see Kathy Headlee, who is the founder of this great organization that  serves "children in orphanages in Romania, Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Nepal and Bolivia and those living in the streets in Africa and India, it is our goal to send a message of hope and offer real solutions to the serious problems these children face."

Be thinking of craft items that you can make throughout the year to donate to this great cause.   Truly even small efforts forward make a difference in our world.

Upcoming Dates & MWB Boutique

Friday, November 6
Temple Trip and attend the Mothers Without Borders Boutique in Lehi

Tuesday, November 17
We CAN meeting at Kathy T's home at 11:00 a.m. We will decorate the tree and prepare everything else that we need to finish for the Festival of Trees.

Monday, November 30
Trip to Southtowne Convention Center in South Salt Lake to put up the tree for the Festival of Trees.

Mother's Without Borders Boutique - November 6 & 7 at the Mellor Hidden Meadows Reception Center in Lehi, Utah. There will also be one at the Chantilly Mansion in Layton, Utah.
I delivered all the items for the Mother's Without Borders Boutique a few weeks ago to Terri W in Provo and she was thrilled - very impressed with the beautiful things you did for the boutique. She has been over to Zambia twice with the MWB group and said they have been able to build schools and help women get businesses started and they are making a positive impact on the lives of women and children there.

"The needs of others are ever present and each of us can do something to help someone."

Thomas S Monson, October 2009

Kathy working on the manger scene

for our tree for the Festival of the Trees

We CAN met Tuesday, October  6th at Barbara's home.  We are currently working on a couple of projects and spent the afternoon preparing ornaments for a small Christmas tree for the Festival of Trees that will be held in December.  

 Kathy graciously accepted the challenge of putting the lights on the tree.  Barbara, Carolyn, Judy, Lynn and Sandy all worked on ornaments for the tree. 
We have also been collecting items for the Mother's Without Borders boutique that will be held November 6th and 7th at the Mellor Hidden Meadows Reception Center in Lehi, Utah  and November 6th and 7th at the Chantilly Mansion in Layton, Utah.

 

Here are just a few of the lovely items that ladies in our area have made and donated for the boutique.

2009 Mothers Without Borders Boutique

Mothers Without Borders 2009 Boutique The kids are in school, the temperature is dropping and it's time to think about what you can make for the fund-raising boutique for Mothers Without Borders. MWB is a non-profit organization that is committed to supporting programs that offer sustainable, long-term solutions to the global orphan crisis. More than 36 million children under 15 are orphaned in Sub-Saharan Africa today and every 14 seconds, a child is orphaned as a result of AIDS.
This wonderful non-profit organization was started back in the 1990s by Kathy Headlee after she adopted a daughter from Romania.

The organization works to help children in crises all over the world.

We would like to collect as many craft items or donations for the MWB botique that will be held on November 6th and 7th at the Chantilly Mansion in Layton, Utah and at Mellor Hidden Meadows Reception Center in Lehi, Utah. The boutique has raised thousands of dollars for the orphans of Zambia. This 2 day event features handmade items that are donated as well as beautiful treasures made by the orphans, vulnerable women, and craftsman of Zambia.The word is spreading. Come and be a part of this tidal wave of caring. It is good medicine for the soul.

The following items are things that sale well at the boutique:

• Thanksgiving and Christmas Decor Items
• Home decor items - including the popular vinyl lettering trend
• Unique toys - we love sock monkeys, wooden cars, blocks, animals, dolls (we never have enough dolls!), quiet books and doll clothes
• Jewelry
• Childrens hair bows
• Handbags
• Family picture magnetic boards
• Trendy knitted scarves and hats
• Quilts

If you would like to make something for the MWB botique we will collect them at our October meeting or you can drop it off to Carolyn, Lynn, Judy, Ardis, Barbara, Paulette, Kathy or Sandy anytime before October 15 and we will take it over to the MWB collection center in Provo.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

" He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything." ~Arabian Proverb

Jeannie, Ardis, Carolyn & Judy marking the quilt~

Primary Childrens Medical Center brings hope to many children and their families, so we have chosen to work on a project for the Festival of Trees, a large fund raiser for PCMC. Our September meeting was held Tuesday, September 1st at Carolyn's home. Attending were Judy, Lynn, Ardis, Kathy, Jeannie, Carolyn and Sandy. Our guest speaker was Jeannie A* who has volunteered for many years for the Festival of Trees and was a board member. Jeannie told us about the history of the festival and how it was started back in the 1970's to raise funds for Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City.

In 1971, the first Festival of Trees was held at thet old Armory in Salt Lake and featured 60 Christmas treee. That year they were pleased to make $47,000 for the hospital. "Over the years, this beautiful event has blossomed into a forest of more than 800 trees, a gift boutique featuring handmade articles, a sweet shop filled with freshly made candies and baked goods, a display of wreaths and door decorations, centerpieces, gingerbread houses, and backyard playhouses. There is also Santa, activities for children, hot scones and sweet rolls, and continuous live entertainment. In all, the Festival spans over 220,000 square feet of display space and last year's festival raised $1,495,840.74." (Quote from Festival of the Trees History) All of this money goes to helping children in need get the medical care they require.
Lynn, tole painting decorations for the Tabletop Christmas tree.

This year we are making a Table Top Christmas Tree, a quilt to go with it and a small nativity, themed around the birth of the Savior. We tied the quilt and painted the ornaments. Next month we will finish the quilt and decorate the tree. Each ornament on the tree has to be wired into the branch to ensure that the decorations are secure and to facilitate transportation to the purchasers of the tree. The Festival of Trees will be held December 2-5, 2009 at the Southtowne Expo Center in Salt Lake City and all proceeds benefit the Primary Children's Medical Center.

Coming right up!

Our September meeting will be held Tuesday, September 1st at Carolyn's home at 11:00 a.m. Jeannie Anderson will be coming to share some of her experiences with the Festival of Trees. Jeannie is a former board member with the festival and has spent many years volunteering for the event. The Festival of Trees raises millions of dollars each year for Primary Children's Hospital and the funds are used to help children who could not otherwise afford medical care to get the care that they need. These children come to Salt Lake City from all over the world and receive life saving, life changing medical care.

We will be making a quilt and a tree to donate to the Festival of Trees. Come and join us at 11:00 a.m. We will have a potluck lunch around 1:00 p.m.

Special Delivery

"Where there is great love, there is always miracles." Willa CatherSandy, Ardis, Paulette, Carolyn, Haru, Judy & Lon
Paulette, Ardis, DeAnna, Carolyn, Haru & Judy
Thursday, August 6th was a heart warming day for the We CAN group. We traveled up to Heber to deliver our dresses, tee-shirts, jeans and 160 pairs of flip flops to the Village of Hope founders, Lon and DeAnna Kennard. DeAnna graciously shared with us a few of her experiences and a bit of the inspiration that started them on their journey with the village of Kersa Illala and Village of Hope Foundation. She is an amazing woman with thirteen children, the youngest six were adopted from Ethiopia. DeAnna radiates love and faith, has a huge heart and a spirit in tune with the Lord. They have been working in Ethiopia for ten years now and have overcome huge obstacles and seen many miracles. Thank you, DeAnna, for sharing a part of your busy day with us~ thank you for your light and love!

Sewing in the Love

" We look for visions of heaven and we never dream that all the time God is in the commonplace things and the people around us." Oswald ChambersWe met again on Tuesday, August 4th at Lynn's home to finish sewing the tee-shirt dresses for the little girls in Ethiopia. Carolyn and Lynn ~ pressing and gathering.
Haru, visiting from Tokyo, helped pin the skirts together

Judy, gathering the skirts together.

Haru has a great technique for folding the finished product -

it looked ready to go on a store shelf!

A few of the finished dresses . . . we hope the girls and women who wear these can feel our love for them as they go about their daily tasks, for they truly were sewn with loving hearts and kind hands. We also collected tee shirts and jeans for the little boys. We will be delivering them this week to the founders of Village of Hope

That's Sew Fun

"If we seek to manifest love by utilizing our inherent abilities to serve others in whatever we are doing, we find the greatest opportunity for development, for then we are giving expression to our love for our neighbors and ourselves." The Intelligent Heart, David & Bruce McArthur
Our July meeting was held at Lynn's home on the 21st. Kathy, Judy, Ardis, Lynn and Carolyn spent the afternoon sewing tee-shirt dresses for the little girls in Ethiopia. Fabric is ruffled, and hemmed, then sewed to a tee-shirt and it becomes a cute little dress for girls. They finished 17 dresses and have many more partially completed. These little dresses will be given to the Village of Hope Foundation.

What's next?

We are still collecting flip flops for the children in Ethiopia, but we are also collecting new or gently used tee-shirts for the children. In July we will be making simple dresses for the little girls

The boys wear a tee shirt with jeans, and the little girls wear simple dresses that can be made by sewing a ruffle of fabric on the bottom of a tee shirt as shown in the photo above. The best tee shirts are those of dark colors or with patterns on them. They do need to have sleeves and a high neck. Click here for more information:

"The most important consideration when providing clothing for the children is to realize that the item will be the only thing the child will wear until it literally falls apart. It will be worn to play in, work in, and slept in. It isn't uncommon to find that a child's outfit is sewn on, nor is it uncommon to see a child clutching a filthy piece of rag around the shoulders to serve as a pitiful dress or shirt -- no other clothing or shoes, only the rag. Please know that what you donate with love will be received as a priceless possession. This is why we ask for only new or like new, shirts and dresses, and socks and clean shoes, that are very durable." from Village of Hope

Warm Up America

"Man's mind once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimension." Oliver Wendell Holmes

Our June meeting was held at Judy's home. We learned about Warm Up America, a foundation that was started by Evie Rosen because she wanted to help the homeless.

Volunteers knit or crochet a 7" x 9" rectangle, and these rectangles are put together to form an afghan.

To date, over 250,000 afghans have been given to victims of natural disasters, battered women's shelters, the homeless, and others in need.

Walk a Mile in My Shoes

"If I could be you,

if you could be me for just one hour

If we could find a way to get inside each other's mind,

If you could see you through my eyes instead of your ego

I believe you'd be surprised to see that you've been blind,

Walk a mile in my shoes,

walk a mile in my shoes

Hey, before you abuse, criticize and accuse

Walk a mile in my shoes."

Words and Music by Joe South sung by Elvis Presley

So far we have collected over 150 flip flops for the children and more are coming in . . .

Here are a few of the beautiful children in Kersa Ilala in Ethiopia, where Village of Hope is making a difference in these children's lives. You can watch some videos of the children and see a few of the things the foundation is doing.

Learning to Give, Giving to Learn

Learn not only to find what you like, learn to like what you find.
~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book


Our May 12th meeting was hosted by Ardis. We again worked on the foam shapes that go into the children's school kits and had a lovely luncheon.

Coming to a Theater Near You

Our compassionate service enrichment group will be collecting flip flops for the Village of Hope foundation.http://www.villageofhope-ethiopia.org/.

They really need flip flops in children's sizes - but any size will do.
They have flip flops for $1.00 at the Dollar Store, but another group working on this project indicated that the flip flops found at Old Navy are more durable and will last longer - and many other stores carry them as well.

If you would like to donate some flip flops to the Village of Hope, you can bring them to the upcoming meeting or give them to Carolyn, Lynn or Sandy.

Our meeting in June will be Tuesday, June 9, 1:00 p.m.at Judy D's home. Bring your friends and come enjoy an afternoon of caring!

Just Plodding Along

"Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us daily." ~ Sally Koch

Our fourth meeting was held today at Lynn R's home. We continued working on items for the school kits going to Afghanistan.

We learned about Village of Hope, a non-profit organization that is helping a village in southern Ethiopia. Briana Whatcott, of Payson, has organized a fashion show on April 23 at 7:00 p.m. at Payson High to raise funds for Village of Hope. Briana was adopted eleven years ago from this small village and is now reaching out to help others who still live there. Village of Hope has a comprehensive plan and is building a strong foundation in the village, helping the people there be self-sustaining. One of the most impressive aspects of the program is that people in the village are already reaching out, serving and helping others.

School Kits

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela.
Our March meeting was held Tuesday, March 10 at Sandy O's home. Five ladies attended, and we watched a video on the Humanitarian Services of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the great need worldwide for service. We also learned about Rose Ann Gunther, who received the "Women's Achievement Award in 2005" from the Utah Commission for Women and Families. Mrs. Gunther, along with her Service Group, first developed the Hygiene, School and Newborn Kits for the Humanitarian Center that are now sent throughout the world.

Sister Gunther organizes ongoing humanitarian projects and meets with a large group each Wednesday to work on these projects. KSL TV highlighted Sister Gunther and her work between conference sessions. Her impact on humanity has been great. She is a wonderful example of the positive impact one person can make in the world.

Our current project is working on school kits that will be going to Afghanistan. We have been collecting items for the school kits such as pencils, erasers, rulers, sharpeners, colored pencils, etc. During our meeting, we cut out fun foam shapes and tied them together in groups to be placed in each of the school kits.

Upcoming Project March 10

For our next meeting, coming up on March 10, we will be working on a Humaitarian effort to send school supplies to children in Afhanistan.

Supplies that are needed are:
12" plastic rulers
small pencil sharpeners
pink erasers (the kind that are approx 1" x 2")
#2 pencils
packages of colored pencils (12 in a box)
If you have extra around your home or can purchase a few items in the next couple of weeks, bring them to our meeting.

We will be watching a video about a woman in American Fork who organizes ongoing Humanitarian efforts, such as this one to send 2500 kits to 10 schools in Afghanistan and we will be cutting out some foam felt patterns that will also go in the school kits.

We CAN (Care And Nurture)

Tying it Up

"Children are our future, we must take care of them with maximum effort." Naomi Campbell

Our second meeting was held February 10, 2009 at Paulette's home. Marcia W., Connie K., Ardis L., Carolyn S., Paulette F., and Sandy O. attended. We tied a lovely children's quilt for the Humanitarian Center.
Ardis suggested we call our group "We CAN" with CAN an acronym for Care And Nourish. The name was approved by all attending. Carolyn reported on her trip to Rosarita. We had a lovely luncheon with a variety of salads. We will meet again the 2nd Tuesday in March.

Reflections on Rosarita

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one." ~ Mother Teresa


C and D delivered 240 pounds of rice and beans and 12 large jars of salsa to the Bishop in Rosarita. The Elders help Carolyn unload the supplies.

The beautiful chapel in Rosarita

Carolyn with a lovely family in Rosarita

And We're Off!

Our first meeting was held on a snowy morning, February 2, 2009 at Carolyn's home, who has spearheaded this endeavor. Carolyn S., Paulette F., Connie K., Marlene S., Barbara E., Rae Lee S., Judy D., Ardis L . and Sandy O., attended and Ranae H will be a long-distance member. We also welcome others throughout the community who would like to be involved.

We talked about different organizations and areas where we could serve and help others. A myriad of ideas were formed and we talked about different names for our group as well as a mission statement. Our first project will be sending some food staples to an area in M. where because of the current decline in tourism, people are struggling. C & D will be heading to M. Wednesday and will take down food staples with them then. We are to bring ideas for a name for our group to the next meeting, which will be held February 10 at Paulette's home.

We visited, had refreshments and adjourned.