Charity Crafting - Contacts

Our small but dedicated (five in all) group of ladies, who have been busily making things for local needy since back in April '09, worked a long time on just faith that we would find homes for our work. In a reasonably large city (Vegas is now about 2 million, I think), there are many people in need. Finding the right home for the right "gifts" is time-consuming and tricky.

The first things we made were preemie clothes. The internet made it plain that there was a strong need for these. People can go and buy newborn clothes almost anywhere, but preemie caps, shirts and booties are difficult to find. Every time I found a contact at a preemie ward in a local hospital, they were too busy to discuss it, and I was too busy to spend the time at their hospital on an uncommitted meeting with them. The preemies clothes just sat and waited.

The next things we made were fingerless gloves, hats/caps, and scarves for the homeless for protection against the wicked desert winds in the winter. Finding a home for those was easier. At first, we dropped them at our local Salvation Army site. Then that became a problem for their staff, and we switched to Catholic Charities. Either way, they go directly to the homeless and that's what we wanted.

The third type of items we make are for long-term care residents, and that wasn't too difficult. I called one nursing home I knew of (a friend had been there for 8 weeks), and asked how many of their people were permanent. That led to a discussion and the Social Services Director directed me to one home that she knew of in which every resident is long-term; none of those 150 will ever go back home. That's what we wanted.

Back to the preemies. It has taken over a year to find a home for these things, and we found it accidentally. I found some leads online and emailed two contacts at two different facilities here in town. Only one emailed a reply. She didn't need preemie outfits but she did need other baby things for teen moms. I went through our stash and found a few baby blankies and some hats that were too large for preemies. When this lady came to pick them up, I discovered that she had once headed the Volunteers at our local county hospital. I had tried this place for the preemie clothes last year and couldn't seem to connect with them. Today's contact, amazingly, knows exactly who to take those preemie clothes to - how wonderful is that?

It just takes patience and time, and the right contact; and thank heaven, we now have that.