Do as Much as We Can

"We must each lead a way of life with self-awareness and compassion, to do as much as we can. 

Then, whatever happens we will have no regrets." 

~ Dalai Lama

Paula, Kathy and Carolyn

We met at Lynn's lovely new home for our October We CAN meeting. 

Vila, Barbara, Ardis and Paula

 Finishing our Festival of Tree ornaments was our main goal today.  We also collected items for the Women and Children's Center in Provo.

Paula, Kathy, Lynn and Carolyn

Barbara with the Candy Canes

Simple, Daily Acts

"Simple, daily acts of service may not seem like much in and of themselves, but when considered collectively they become just like the one-twelfth teaspoon of honey contributed by a single bee to the hive. There is power in our love for God and for His children, and when that love is tangibly manifest in millions of acts of Christian kindness, it will sweeten and nourish the world with the life-sustaining nectar of faith, hope and charity." 

~Russell M Ballard, "Be Anxiously Engaged", Ensign, Nov 2012

 We CAN met today at Paula's home.  We collected several things: 

1) Novels for a high school class room,

 2) Crafts for the Doll House Festival Boutique and 

3) Crafts for the Mothers Without Borders Boutique

 We have begun our Festival of Trees project.  We are working on red/white ornaments for our tree, which will have a Swedish Design Theme.   

Kathy, Anne, Arlene, Lynn, Paula and Carolyn

 We worked on red/whate paper 3D ornaments made of cardstock and wrapping paper.

Paulette and the  Victorian Doll house

 Paulette was busy decorating the doll house that we are making for the Doll House Festival coming up Friday, September 27 and Saturday, September 28th in Provo.
The Masquerade Ball is Sept. 26th at 6pm.

Vila, Ardis and Barbara

 We were also working on felt hearts for the tree.

Carolyn, Sandy, Vila and Ardis

Kathy, Anne and Arlene

 Anne finished the first 3-D ornament!

Rae Lee, Paula, Carolyn

Paula and Carolyn display our first few ornaments . . . with many more to go!

Lynn, Rae Lee and Paula

Puttting on finishing touches!

Next month we will be meeting at Lynn's home, Monday, October 7th.

Christmas Box and Teddy Bears ~ a Great Day for Service

“Hugs should be available at the medical stores 24/7. Sometimes, they are the best healers for almost everything.” ― Minhal Mehdi

Betty Q

Ardis, Lynn, Betty, Carolyn and Kathy

We met Betty Q and Lois Kt the Christmas Box Project Room (located in the State Government building east of the courthouse in Provo).  Betty is the President of the Utah County Christmas Box Club, and Lois is the Vice President. The Christmas Box Club serves kids in foster care in Utah County.  

The Project Room is jam packed with things kids would need who were being removed from their home and being placed in foster care.  The kids do not have time to pack a suitcase and often just have the clothes on their back.  The social worker can bring a child to the project room and get socks, underwear, shoes, school clothes, pajamas, a blanket, hygiene kit, etc.  We also saw backpacks, strollers, car seats, diapers, sippy cups, binkies, etc. in the project room.  Our group was donating summer pajamas.  I noticed that a couple of the bins that were supposed to have pajamas in them were empty, so our donation was very timely.  We estimated that We Can donated about $168 worth of summer pajamas the day of our visit.  Because the project room is not large, Betty and Lois were in the process of putting winter clothes into storage and putting out the summer things. The project room is well organized.  Everything is put in a baggie and then in bins that are labeled to make it easy for the social workers to find the size they need for each child.  While we were there, a social worker stopped by who has worked in the state foster care system for 25 years.  She is a supervisor over the social workers in Utah County.  She spent a few minutes talking to us about the foster care system and about the valuable service/partnership the Christmas Box Club provides.  She told us that when she started working 25 years ago, most children were removed from their home and placed in foster care because of abuse whereas now 90% of the kids are removed from their home because their mother is abusing drugs (and so the children are neglected). WE CAN has done several projects for the Christmas Box Club.  We've collected binkies and sippy cups; summer clothing; summer pajamas; receiving  blankets for babies born to drug addicted mothers (these are the blankets that needed to be a certain size because the babies are swaddled a particular way by their foster parents).  Our hooded bath towel project was also for the Christmas Box Club.  We could tell that Betty and Lois are passionate about helping the kids that are served by the Christmas Box Club.

After we had toured the Christmas Box Project Room, we headed over to Project Teddy Bear.  Project Teddy Bear meets the 4th Tuesday of each month at a stake center on Timpview Dr. in Provo (right next to Rock Canyon Elementary School).  They meet from 3:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.  The head of Project Teddy Bear is Ruth Brasher.  Lynn became acquainted with Ruth working at the temple.  Project Teddy Bear donates homemade Teddy Bears to the Children's Justice Center.  The Children's Justice Center works with children who are victims of sexual abuse.  Project Teddy bear donates between 60-75 bears a month to the Children's Justice Center!  They've been doing this for more than 20 years and have donated thousands of teddy bears over the years. It's sad to think that there is that much need.  There are good women who help Ruth sew up the bears ahead of time, then volunteers stuff the bears and stitch them closed. Since they only meet once a month, they need to stuff and complete 60 bears each time they meet.  It was fun to meet Ruth and the other ladies who help her.  We stayed about an hour and 15 minutes and stuffed 9 bears total in that time.  It's time consuming because they bears need to be stuffed very tightly.  It was fun, and I think if we go again, we would get faster at stuffing.  Practice makes perfect!

Ruth is also in charge of the Doll House Festival (held in the fall).  Proceeds from a dinner, auction, and boutique also go to benefit the Children's Justice Center.  We think it would be fun for the WE CAN ladies to do a doll house or at least boutique items.  Those attending were Kathy, Paula, Ardis, Lynn, Carolyn.  We had a great day!

   

Upcoming We CAN meeting Tuesday, April 23rd

"The essence of our effort to see that every child has a chance must be to assure each an equal opportunity, not to become equal, but to become different -- to realize whatever unique potential of body, mind and spirit he or she possesses."~John Fischer 

Tuesday, April 23rd we will be meeting at Carolyn's home at 12:30  to go over to Provo to have lunch, then we'll go on a "Field Trip" to the Christmas Box Project Room.  We'll tour the Project Room (and turn in the summer pajamas we're collecting this month - Boys and Girls: sizes 2T to 14). Then at 3:00 p.m. we will go to "Project Teddy Bear" in Provo to to do an hour or two of service. We will meet Ruth Brasher, who started the project more than 20 years ago.  Ruth is also involved in the Doll House Charity Boutique, so we'll also learn about that while we are there as well.  

This meeting will take place of our normal May 6th meeting - Project Teddy Bear is only open on the 4th Tuesday of each month.

Collecting: Summer pajamas for children, sizes 2T to 14

Meeting at: 12:30 at Carolyn's home Tuesday April 23 - returning around 5:30-6:00 p.m.

Come and join us for a few hours of service and bring a friend!  Everyone is welcome!

Project LInus

“Hugs should be available at the medical stores 24/7. 

Sometimes, they are the best healers for almost everything.” 
― Minhal Mehdi

Barbara

Our We CAN ( Care And Nurture) met Monday, April 1st at Carolyn's home to make fleece blankets for Project Linus of Utah County.

Lynn

  Barbara, Lynn, Megan, Vila, Ardis, Carolyn and Sandy all worked on the project. 

Ardis

These blankets are given to children who are seriously ill or traumatized and distributed through hospitals, shelters or through social service agencies. This is a way of spreading "blanket hugs" to children in need and helping to provide security, warmth and comfort to children.    

Vila, Megan and baby Anders

The ladies worked for a couple of hours to make  nineteen blankets which were taken to the Project  Linus Center in Provo.  .  Everyone also enjoyed a  nice luncheon. 

 The blankets are not tied, but the fabric is pulled through a small hole made at the top center of each fringe, making it a no-sew blanket.  

They are quick and easy. Instructions for these quick no-sew blankets and many other types of blankets  are found on the Project Linus website.

Project Linus - Monday April 1st

" We become so caught up in the busyness of our lives. Were we to step back, however, and take a good look at what we’re doing, we may find that we have immersed ourselves in the “thick of thin things.” In other words, too often we spend most of our time taking care of the things which do not really matter much at all in the grand scheme of things, neglecting those more important causes."

~ President Thomas S Monson, October 2009

We CAN will meet Monday, April 1st at 10:00 a.m. at Carolyn Shirley’s home for service and a potluck lunch. We will be making fleece blankets for Project Linus.  If you would like to bring fleece, you will need 1 ½ yards of 60"wide.  If you have a seam ripper and a crochet hook, they will also be helpful.  Don’t fringe the fleece, just cut off the selvages and we’ll do the rest at the meeting following the Project Linus instructions.  Please come even if you don’t have fleece to bring, we will have plenty there to work on.  Questions? Call Carolyn at 423-1108.  We welcome everyone who would like to come and serve (and laugh!) for a couple of hours. Project Linus is an organization that provides new, handmade, washable blankets for seriously ill or traumatized children ages 0 to 18.  The blankets are distributed to children served by hospitals, shelters or social service agencies.  The blankets distributed by Project Linus chapters are a way of spreading "blanket hugs," and blankets are intended to provide some love, security, warmth and comfort to the children. Over 4 million blankets have been distributed since 1998 when the project was started.  See http://www.projectlinus.org/ for more information.

Marching On

“At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, 

how much money we have made, 

how many great things we have done.

We will be judged by 

"I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, 

I was naked and you clothed me. 

I was homeless, and you took me in.” 

― Mother Teresa

Our next We CAN meeting will be held Monday, March 4th at Barbara E's home at 10:00 a.m.

We will be making hooded bath towels for children for the Christmas Box House in Provo.

  

If you would like to, you can bring a bath towel with a wash cloth or a hand towel to make one, or  two bath towels and one hand towel will make two hooded towels (as the hand towels are split in half to make the hood for each one).  However, don't feel like you have to bring towels, you are welcome to come and help sew and visit.  

The thinner towels at Wal-Mart work well - they are $2.99 per towel and $2.50 for wash cloths . . .not sure how much the hand towels are . . .

We will have a potluck lunch as well ~ bring a friend and come enjoy a few hours of service.  

Don't wait a single moment - February 2013

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. "

- Anne Frank

Carolyn, Barbara, Kathy and Ardis

 Monday, January 28th our We CAN group met at Ardis' home to prepare 50 sack lunches for the Food and Care Coalition.  These lunches are made for people who are working, have appointments or interviews and cannot go to the Food and Care Coalition for a meal that day.  We also collected hamburger and hotdog buns for the Coalition.

The lunches were delivered to the Food and Care Coalition in Provo, which provides many resources for the homeless and low income of Utah County.  They not only feed people who are hungry, they also provide hygiene supplies, shower facilities, laundry services, internet access, hair cuts, emergency shelter, and have different client outreach programs.  They focus their efforts on providing hope, dignity and compassion.

Kathy, Ardis, Carolyn, Paula, Barbara

If you are interested in Volunteering at the Coalition or helping with their Current Needs, click on the links to their website.

"I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks." ~ Shakespeare

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."

Winston Churchill

Some fun thank you notes we have received.

Grocery & Manufacturer Coupons

"Remember this December,

that love weighs more than gold!"
~Josephine Dodge Daskam Bacon

We Can received another thank you letter from the military base in Yokosuka, Japan thanking us for sending them coupons and emphasizing how important the coupons are to military families. Currently their family support center distributes over 1000 quart-sized ziplock bags of coupons every week!

Please spearate food and non-food coupons into separate ziplock bags and label the bags "food" and "non-food." The coupons must be vendor (or manufacture coupons) -- not store coupons, and they must be cut out.

Mail them to:

Coupon Distribution
Fleet and Family Support Center
PSC 473 Box 116
FPO AP 96349

You can mail them yourself, or get them to Carolyn.

Sharing Our Love

"What would be the cumulative effect of millions of small, compassionate acts performed daily by us because of our heartfelt Christian love for others?  Over time this would have a  transformative effect upon all of Heavenly Father's children through his extension of His love to them through us.  Our troubled world today needs this love of Christ more today than ever."  Elder Russell M Ballard, "Be Anxiously Engaged," Ensign, November 2012, 30.

Kathy, Vila, Ardis, Carolyn, Carol, Sandy and Lynn

 Monday, January 7 we met at Lynn's home to make Valentine's to give to people in local care centers on Valenine's Day.  A lot of creativity and artistry was used to create over 100 Valentines.  We also collected winter coats and paper products for the Food and Care Coalition.

 Aren't these Valentines lovely?  We hope they brighten up someone's day and they can feel the love that we put into them as we created them.