Page
1:
* Bundles of Love story
* Fundraiser T-Shirt
* Agency Spotlight
Page
2:
* Funding
* Help Wanted
* Ebaying for Bundles
* Pictures of Connor
Page
3:
* Thanks
to Share
* Donation Thank-You's
Page
4:
* South
Metro Work News
* North Metro Work News
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5:
* Rochester
Work News
* Minnetonka Work News
* Board of Directors
Page
6:
* Special
Thank You
* Flammability Questions
* New Patterns
* Preemie Size Measurements
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7:
* Volunteer
Spotlights
Page
8:
* BOL Results
* Board Changes & Spotlights
* Spreading the Word
* Donations that Thank & Honor
South Metro Work Group News
Articles written by Ruth Volk
Ongoing Needs:
- Newborn Sleepers and Gowns
- Diaper Bags
- Baby care items. Most needed are diapers, wipes, and baby soap or shampoo.
- “Nice-to-haves” are bottles, pacifiers, teething rings, diaper rash ointment, etc.
- Yarn – all kinds and all colors
- Cotton fabric for sheets and quilt backing (at least one yard in length)
- Cutting help – contact your work group coordinator for fabric and patterns
Special Activities and News:
~ Sharon Moore has volunteered to be our South Metro assembly coordinator. Sharon began volunteering for BOL in December of 2002, and has been a huge help to us from the start. She sews and crochets in her spare time, and now will help at each Apple Valley work meeting by leading the assembly efforts, tracking the item counts, etc. Sharon also attends most of the Monday work meetings as well. We’re so glad you found us, Sharon!
~ One of our volunteers, Cherie Neisen, who works at Ceridian, walked into the April meeting with a check to Bundles of Love for $1000 from her employer! Cherie had applied through her office for funds from their Community Action Program. Thank you so much, Cherie!
~ The Monday evening work meetings moved to Ruth Volk’s house in Eagan, the first Monday of every month, 6:30 to 9 PM. For more info contact Ruth at Ruth.Volk@bundlesoflove.org.
~ The St. Kate’s Lambda Sigma Tau sorority helped us at our March 2003 work meeting as one of their many service projects. These energetic gals helped cut various fabrics for the meeting, getting us ahead on sheets, bibs, wash cloths, burp cloths, and diaper bags. They went a step further and did a collection for us, bringing in 375 baby care items! This sorority helped us in March of 2002 as well – we hope they continue the trend. Thanks, girls!
~ Volunteer Holly Porter and her husband Bill helped with the Shepherd of the Valley work day in February. Coincidentally, they painted the room where we meet every month! Thanks, Holly, for volunteering your time yet again to help others! Bill has also volunteered to spend some of his retirement time using his sales skills to help Bundles of Love. What a great asset he will be!
New Agencies and Deliveries:
Over the past few months, as we increased the number of completed items and bundles assembled, we sought out some additional organizations to whom we are now donating bundles. We may not be able to meet all of their needs in full each month, but will provide what we can.
~ Alpha Women’s Center (Savage) – 8 to 19 bundles needed per month. In January they had 22 babies born! They would be grateful for any donations, so even when we don’t have extra bundles, we could donate extra items.
~ Northfield Hospital – 3 bundles per month.
~ New Life Center (Richfield) – 8 to 10 bundles per month. We have previously donated used clothing to New Life, but delivered the first bundles to them in May.
~ CAP Agency (Burnsville – soon relocating to Rosemount) – 6 bundles per year.
Preemie Needs:
We have ongoing preemie needs for various hospitals and have also received requests for several multiple birth preemies over the past weeks:
- One struggling preemie girl, whose twin sister died shortly after birth
- Quintuplets born at Abbott, now at Children’s Minneapolis – 3 girls and 2 boys
- Preemie twin girls, whose grandmother contacted us
Preemie sleeper patterns are available on our Patterns page, in addition to the preemie open front gown. If you don’t have patterns and are not able to download them from the web site, please contact your local work group coordinator. A small donation to cover our copying costs (if you are able), and a self addressed stamped envelope if you would like the patterns mailed to you would be appreciated.
For upcoming South Metro Work Meetings, click HERE
North Metro Work Group News
Articles written by Teresa Wilts
Extra Work Meetings:
Bundles of Love would like to thank the following groups of volunteers that held special work meetings for us to help us keep up with the growing demand for our bundles:
• Richfield United Methodist Church Mom’s group (Feb. 15, 2003): 28 volunteers stuffed over 30 toys and tied quilts.
• Shoreview Mom’s Club (Feb. 20, 2003): 8 volunteers cut 105 receiving blankets, 58 bibs, and 26 burp cloths and tied 5 quilts.
• New Brighton Christian Church Youth group (Feb. 22, 2003): 12 volunteers cut 197 receiving blankets, 63 burp cloths and 58 bibs. They also sewed 16 blankets and tied two quilts.
• Volunteer Resource Center Staff (March 14, 2003): 11 volunteers sewed 18 sheets, cut another 15 sheets and 30 receiving blankets, 20 bibs and 18 burp cloths, and cut quilt blocks.
• Skyway Seniors (June 11, 2003): 9 volunteers started their own work group (without me because I didn’t want to share my cold germs!). At this first meeting, they cut 86 receiving blankets, 54 bibs, and 29 burp cloths and several warm blankets.
• Kaposia (ongoing): Volunteers from Kaposia regularly tie quilts and cut quilt kits for us.
• New Brighton Girl Scouts sent us a baby quilt with hand embroidered hearts in a variety of stitches (see pictures below). Beautiful work girls!
Other Events:
Northtown Community
Day on May 3, 2003
We had a booth in the Northtown Mall to promote Bundles of Love and recruit
volunteers. Results: 1 new volunteer doing cutting and 2 new volunteers
sewing.
New Work Groups:
Kaposia
Kaposia, Inc. in Roseville, has formed their own work group to help Bundles
of Love. The mission of Kaposia is to advance the inclusion of people
with disabilities in working and participating in their communities. One
of their ways to participate in the community is to help the North Metro
work group by tying quilts and cutting quilt blocks for others to sew.
We’d like to say a big thank you to all our volunteers from Kaposia.
Skyway Seniors
Work Group
Welcome to our newest work group, the Skyway Seniors in downtown Minneapolis.
We had an organizational meeting in May, and on June 11 the work group
had their first work meeting.Our
plan was that I would be there to help them get started, but when I caught
a nasty cold, the volunteers were brave enough to hold their first work
meeting on their own.
This new work group is going to be cutting flannel for receiving blankets, bibs and burp cloths and cutting sheets and warm blankets for the North Metro work group. We can’t thank you enough!
Current Challenge: Meeting Space
We had 38 people sign in at the April meeting – that’s our record! There wasn’t enough room for everyone to sit so some people just dropped off stuff and left. We didn’t get as many people at the May meeting and we were all concerned that some people were too embarrassed to come back.
We had our first back-to-back work meeting on June 14 to resolve this issue and it worked pretty well, so we will continue this in the short term. The morning group will start at 9 and end at 1 and the afternoon group will start at 12:00 and end at 4:00.
We will hold the business meeting at 12:15 so everyone can attend and the bundle stuffers will work in the afternoon. Volunteers can come to either meeting or stay all day if you want.
This will work in the short term, but we will be looking for another space to hold our meetings eventually. I’m hoping we can find a place where we can still store all the finished stuff too.
If anyone has any ideas, please e-mail Teresa at twilts@bundlesoflove.org.
For upcoming North Metro Work Meetings, click HERE
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