My creed is that:

Happiness is the only good.

The place to be happy is here.

The time to be happy is now.

The way to be happy is

to make others so.

- Robert G. Ingersoll

The Stockings Are Hung

Today we put together all of the stockings for the The Women and Children in Crisis, an abuse shelter in Provo. We were able to make 30 stockings in all! And they were jammed packed full of goodies! I'm not sure we could've fit much more in them even if we wanted to.

A big thanks to everyone who donated items and helped put the stockings together! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I think we find the true meaning of Christmas as we reach out to others - especially those whose hearts are heavy, whose eyes are downcast, and whose hands hang low. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to do something for someone else. That is the best Christmas gift I could ask for. I love that I can have dear friends by my side in service.

Thank you all for a wonderful year and I look forward to a new year full of love, friendship and lots of chances to give the gift of service!

Merry Christmas!

Santa's Workshop

That's what it feels like in my office this week with all of the donations for the Christmas stockings we're putting together for the shelter!

I love it! I feel like Santa's elf! It is so wonderful to "see" the generosity of the amazing ladies in our neighborhood.

We will be putting the stockings together on Friday but I couldn't wait to post these adorable pictures!

Thank you to everyone who donated! You will make a real difference in someone's life this Christmas!

"There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the highest creed."

~Woodrow Wilson

Christmas Stockings

For our December service project we will be making up Christmas Stockings for Women and Children in Crisis Center, a local abuse shelter.

Please join me in sharing the true gift of Christmas - Love - with those precious children and women who have dealt with the brutality and heart-break of abuse. Let's make their Christmas a little brighter by letting them know that someone loves them!

I will be collecting items to make 30 Christmas Stockings (10 children, 10 Teens, 10 Women)

I will have a donation box in the Relief Society room every Sunday until December 6th.

Items I'll need for the Stockings: (all items need to be new - thanks)

30 Stockings

Children's:

10 Candy Canes

10 Small Stuffed Animals

10 Play-doh

10 Boxes of Crayons

10 Packs of stickers

Teen's:

10 Full-sized Hershey Bars (plain)

10 Candy Canes

10 Hair Brush/Comb

10 Pair of mittens/gloves/beanie hats

10 Chapstick

Women's:

10 Full-sized Hershey Bars (plain)

10 Candy Canes

10 Lip Gloss

10 Nail Polish

10 Hair brush/comb

We will be putting the stockings together on Friday, December 11th at 11:00 at my home.

Missionary Packages

A big thank you to everyone who contributed to the Missionary Care Packages!!! We were able to jam-pack the boxes with all sorts of goodies! I know it will make Elder Swallow and Elder Dinehart happy to get all the treats and to know that we are thinking of them.

Also, thank you to all of the wonderful primary children who wrote a little note to the missionaries. Those cards and pictures will brighten their day!

Thanks again to anyone who helped in any way.

I couldn't do this without you!

Mark Your Calendars

Dear Friends,

The Holiday Season is fast approaching!

And that means we have a lot of opportunities to help our brothers and sisters who are struggling right now.

I wanted to give you a "heads up" on ways you can make a difference in their lives this holiday season by joining our Hearts and Hands service projects over the next few months.

OCTOBER

October 18, Nov. 1 and Nov. 8th - We will be collecting items for Missionary Care Packages

NOVEMBER

Nov. 13 at 11:00 we will be assembling the care packages

DECEMBER

We will be collecting items for Christmas Stockings for the children, teens and women at the local abuse shelter. (Dec. 11 at 11:00 we will be putting the stockings together)

Compassion

"Compassion is a network

of invisible threads

that weave a blanket

of love around

many lives."

- unknown

Family Volunteer Day

Care Packages

Our next project will be making Care Packages for the 2 young men from our Ward who are currently serving missions for our Church in Mississippi and Guatemala.

We want to send them a little bit of home and a lot of love and appreciation for their sacrifice!

Please join us in gathering the needed items for the care packages:

• Jerky
• Raisinettes
• Gum
• Dried Fruit (Bananas & Apples)
• Chocolate Pudding Mix
• Hard Candy
• Kool-Aid
• Skittles
• Inexpensive CTR Rings
• Stamps
• Black Socks
• Ties
• Letters!!!
• Money for Sending the Packages

We will be collecting items and letters through October and assembling the care packages on November 13th at my home.

Thank You!

Cards for At-Risk Youth

Thank you so much to those of you who helped make blank notecards and bookmarks for the youth at the Juvenile Justice Services!

The cards and bookmarks were great! We had some very creative people helping us. The great thing is that each one of those cards will go to a teen who needs a reminder that there are people who care about them!

Thanks again for taking time out of your busy schedule to make a difference in another person's life!

Hope to see you next time!

BE A GUARDIAN ANGEL THIS SUMMER!

Hunger never takes a holiday or goes on vacation.…

Instead of having Hearts & Hands activities in June and July, we are asking everyone who is interested in helping, to please donate to the Utah Food Bank during these 2 months. Donations may be dropped off at 815 S Freedom Blvd in Provo, M-F 9 a.m - 4:30 p.m..

What a difference we can make if we each just took up 1-2 bags of food/supplies! Please join us for this very worthwhile project.
For more info you can go to: http://www.communityactionprovo.org


Most Needed Items:
• Toilet paper
• Bar soap
• Shampoo
• Laundry soap
• Disposable diapers
• Feminine hygiene products
• Peanut butter
• Canned Tuna
• Canned beans and chili
• Canned stews and soups
• 100% fruit juice
• Powdered milk
• Canned fruits and vegetables
• Macaroni and Cheese Dinners
• Cereals

We will resume with another wonderful service project in August - We hope to see you then!

Doubled Our Goal

I was hoping to collect 200 pairs of socks and underwear for the Nebo Foundation to give to needy children right here in our own school district. These children are classified as homeless and their families receive a lot of wonderful assistance from the Nebo Foundation. However, the kids won't normally get NEW socks and underwear. 

Well, I am happy to report that we collected double of what our goal was!!! Yesterday, I counted out all the socks and underwear that we so generously donated and here are the final #'s:

Socks: 227 Pair

Underwear: 153 Pair

Isn't that amazing? Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who donated! I will be dropping these off today and I hope you all realize that you truly made a difference! 

Helping In Our Own Neighborhood

A couple of weeks ago, our local newspaper had an article entitled "Hitting Home - Homelessness in Nebo School District". My heart broke when I found out that there are 1,632 students who do not have good living conditions. 1,432 children fall into the category of homeless - "they may be living in a car, campground, or shelter. Or they may not have running water or heat in their home." 

Our school district has a wonderful group called the Nebo Education Foundation that identifies and helps these families. (Providing weekly food boxes for the families, free school breakfasts and lunches, clothing and household items from the local D.I thrift shop and heat programs.)

In the article it mentioned how the children get their clothes from the thrift shop but that means they usually won't get new socks or underwear. When I read that I knew right away what our next service project would be! I contacted Monica Hullinger, one of the district's social workers that helps these families and told her that we wanted to help. She was thrilled! I told her that we'll get those great kids some brand-spankin' new socks and underwear!  

So, if you would like to help, we'd love your donation of brand new socks and underwear that will fit children in grades k-12. I will have a collection box at Church for the first 3 sundays of May. Also, you can drop your donation off to my home or call me and I'll be happy to pick it up. 

Sew Fun!

Today we met to make the sewing projects for Kids on the Move. It was really fun! We had a few new faces join us today. I love it when we have a few different generations gathered around  my kitchen table busily working and forming bonds of sisterhood and friendship at the same time! 

We were able to make a ton of towel bibs , mash bags and scarves. We had a lot of fabric to work with that people generously donated. Each month my heart is touched by these dear ladies and their willingness to help and to generously give - no matter what the cause. They truly love being anxiously engaged in a good cause with their hearts and hands!

Kids on the Move

In April we will be sewing some simple items for Kids on the Move, a local, non-profit organization that provides support and services for families with special needs children and also low-income families.

CALLING ALL SEAMSTRESSES

(and those who want to learn basic sewing!)

We will be making some items they are in desperate need of at this time:

Bibs, Mesh Toy Bags and Scarves to use in Kindermusik

This is a wonderful opportunity to put your sewing skills to good use or to learn to sew for the first time! 

Please join us on April 9th at 10:00 a.m. at my home. 

If you are unable to make it on the 9th but still want to help, you can always donate fabric! We need mesh and chiffon (any colors) and new hand towels. 

Hope to see you on the 9th!

Blankets of Love

This month we made blankets for Project Linus. Its a great organization and I think the ladies were happy to help in any way they could! We were able to donate about 20 blankets! Our little group made about 12 in just over an hour! Also, a few people made blankets at home and donated them. 

A few days after our group met, Russ and the boys made a blanket, too. It was great because they did it all by themselves! It does my heart so much good to see my sons doing things for others and that they truly enjoy doing it! 

Mom and I had a wonderful visit with the lady who is the local representative in Orem when we dropped off our blankets. She told us of a young man who just finished his Eagle Scout Project of overseeing the making of over 100 blankets for Project Linus. She told us that when that young man was a little boy, he was very sick and was at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. His vital signs were taking a dive and the doctors were getting pretty nervous and they decided that they would have to life flight him up to the Children's Primary Hospital in Salt Lake City if they got any worse at all. Then the "blanket lady" came around and went into his room. She let him pick out his own blanket and he remembers how happy and excited he was to get the blanket. The Eagle Scout told this dear lady that shortly after he got his blanket, all of his vital signs went up to where they were supposed to be. He feels like that blanket possibly saved his life! So, he grew up and wanted to give back o Project Linus. She told us she could tell us all sorts of heart-warming stories! I would love to hear them all some day. :) 

I told her that we will make more blankets throughout the year for Project Linus. They need about 5,000 blankets around Christmas for when "Santa" flies them down to the Indian reservations and gives all the beautiful children a nice, warm blanket of their own. We will definitely help with that! 

The blankets were adorable - fun, bright, cheery! It is so wonderful to know that these blankets that we made with our hearts and hands will be given to children that will wrap up in them and feel safe and loved. 

Project Linus

In March, we will be contributing to "Project Linus". This is a national organization with local chapters throughout the US. We will be making blankets for children who have been traumatized or who are ill. The blankets we make will go to local children.

I love the thought of making a nice, new, cozy blanket for a sweet child to cuddle up in and feel safe and loved. In fact, Project Linus' mission statement is Building Security Through Blankets. I love that! 

They take all types of blankets: fleece, knit, crocheted, and quilted. They just need to be new, washable and kid-friendly. 

If you'd like to join us, we'll be making them on Thursday, March 12 at 10:00 a.m. at my home. Bring your own material or work on a fleece blanket that's already here.  

Make a Blanket ~ Comfort a Child!

Love is the Cure

"Love cures people - 

both the ones who give it

and the ones who receive it."

 - Dr. Karl Menninger

A Special Valentine

Today was our second meeting as a service group. We gathered items all month long for valentine bags for abused women and children at a shelter in Provo. The coordinator I spoke with asked if we could please do 15 bags for women and 15 for children. Well, because of the amazing generosity of these ladies, we were able to make even more than that and have a few extra things like coloring books, crayons and hershey bars that they can give out as needed at the shelter. 

Today the ladies came over and we assembled everything into the bags. I think they turned out wonderfully! They were full of cheery items, chocolate and other sweets with a note attached wishing them a happy day. 

When we were done putting the bags together, Marianne and I dropped them off at The United Way office in Provo where someone from the shelter can pick them up this afternoon. 

Hopefully, these little goody bags will touch the hearts of the women and children so they will know there are hearts and hands that truly are about them. 

Valentine Bags

For this month's service project we are collecting items that we'll put in Valentine goody bags for the Women and Children In Crisis, a shelter for the abused. 

I made a list of all of the items we would need to make the 30 bags for the residents there. Last Sunday, I passed the sign-up sheets around at Church so people could volunteer to bring the needed items. When I got the lists back, I was shocked - everything was signed up to be donated! I even got some extras in a few categories! I am learning that I shouldn't be shocked - I live in a very loving, caring and generous neighborhood with a lot of amazing people who do want to help others. It does my heart good. 

We will be putting together 15 Valentine bags for the children and 15 for the women. We collected things like coloring books, stuffed animals and hostess cupcakes for the kids and lip gloss, nail polish and hershey bars for the women. I think the bags will be nice - hopefully a small token to let these precious children of God know that we love them. 

We'll be putting the bags together on Thursday, February 12 at 10:00 a.m.. Please join us if you'd like! 

Next Project

Our next project will be on 

Thursday, Feb. 12

10:00 a.m.

We will be making Valentine's Day treat bags

 for the Women & Children In Crisis Center

Please join us!

First Service Project

Today was our first service project! We had a great turn out and were able to make about 25 File Folder Games that will be sent to orphanages around the world as part of the LDS church's humanitarian effort. 

I wasn't sure what kind of response I'd get for this service group but it was so heart-warming to see all these dear ladies take time out of their day to do this for someone. Someone they've never met. A very young someone who's already been asked to bear a lot.  Someone who will hopefully know they are loved by friends that have yet to meet them. I can't help but think that someday, in heaven, we will meet the people that have blessed our lives. And what a glorious moment that will be when we get to meet these sweet children who have blessed our lives with the chance to do something for them. I pray, as I'm sure all the ladies that helped today do, that the small orphan children will feel of our love for them when they play these simple, cheerful games. 

 As I looked around the table at these wonderful wo

men (young, older, single, married and widowed) I was deeply touched. It really is the small things that matter most in life. Small things from our hearts and hands. 

Kick-Off Get-Together!

Our first get-together will be on Thursday, January 15th at 10 am at my home. We will be making File Folder Games for orphanages around the world that will be sent out with Humanitarian services. It should be a lot of fun and very rewarding!