Giving back and helping others is something that makes you feel good and knowing that you are making a difference is even better. My parents have always been those that helped others and since that's what I grew up with, that seems like the norm to me. Even if you don't have much to give, you can still make a difference in someone's life.
Several years back my sister made a delivery of supplies to a local battered women's shelter. Her boss has been donating items to them for years. One of her deliveries was during the fall. Since there were several children there she asked one of the ladies if there was something we could do for the kids especially with Christmas just a few months away. She was told that the kids don't miss out during the Christmas season but it's the women (moms) that get left behind. This got her thinking so she asked how mamy women they housed. At that time they only had room for six at a time. They have recently added more rooms and beds which is nice. But that go my sister thinking. How about doing something for the moms? Their basic needs are met from the government and other organizations. Why don't we do something special for them? Things that they don't get like personal items or pampering items. Many of these women were strong enough to leave a bad situation and most brought nothing more that the clothes on their backs. That's when our little group started to form. At that time we had no idea how it would grow.
That Christmas we did some shopping and made up six gift bags. We filled them with thermo water bottles, journals, pens, shower gel, razors, puzzle books, laundry bags and other fun things. And of course I made up a bunch of wallets and key fobs to add to them. They loved them! It started with just my sister, myself, and our girls. Before we knew it, our friends wanted to help, then my sister's church friends, then friends of their friends. We are now over fifty women strong! We were able to add another shelter to our list and between them I believe there are about 35 women at any given time.
We did some more brainstorming and came up with the idea of welcome boxes for the new arrivals at the shelters. In these boxes we put all of the items listed above plus towels, hair ties, flameless candles, hair brushes, foldable tote bags, and more. As soon as they are down to their last couple of boxes, they call us and we send at least six more. My sister is great at keeping all the information up to date, inventory organized, as well as our Amazon gift list of needed items. And some of these women are extremely generous. We started a private facebook group where our group can see what's needed and when.
If you like to sew or embroider, I know you have a major stash of scrap fabric that could be put to good use. You can make simple little gifts that will brighten someone's day. To find places that you can donate to, contact your local shelters, nursing homes, hospitals, and churches to see where you can donate. You will see in the image above that there are two little monster pillows. I made them for a call out requesting the handmade items for children several years back. They provided the pattern and we (sewers from all over) bought the fabric and stitched them up.
Giving to those in need makes them happy and you happy. It's a win win! If you want to make little wallets, just put in a search at TikToc or Youtube and you'll see hundreds of them. Some of them are so quick and easy, you can whip them up in no time. I also included some links below of some of my tutorials that are quick and easy and would make great donations. And the supplies for these are items you might already have, or things you can get inexpensively.
Simple candle cups for Christmas (for donating I'd use flameless tealights)
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