Tuesday, February 26, 2008

DONATION TO PROJECT LINUS

Well finally I met Dianna from Project Linus, and it was a pleasure meeting her. What a wonderful lady. I was happy to be able to donate a lot of beautiful blankets, which I have collected from knitters and crocheters in the past two months. Dianna also gave me 12 fleece blankets for Casting Off The Cold project, which she did not need for the hospitals.

Thanks to Pat, a member of my group, amazing woman she is, when she puts her mind to doing some thing she is sure to get it done. I received 12 blankets of all sizes from her, just for Project Linus; 10 from Crochetville, also wonderful people working every month for a different cause; 4 from other knitters and 7 from myself!

I hope we could keep this up in the future. SOooo, your help will be greatly appreciated and I thank you for every wonderful item you have made or donated.

Monday, February 18, 2008

DONATION FROM CROCHETVILLE

Here I am again In Stouffville at “Candlelight and Memories”. This time I am meeting with Tracy to pick up the huge donation of Crocheted items that “Crochetville” made for Casting off the Cold.

Pat, who is one of the members of my group, and I had a delightful meeting with Tracy, having tea and sweets. Not that any one of us needed sweets at that time of the morning, but we just could not resist.

Tracy crochets for many charities including Casting off the Cold. She has been crocheting for us for the past year, though I didn't know it. I always commented on how beautiful the crocheted items were- And Now I know who is responsible for them!

Well I decided to ask Tracy to join the team and guess what! She said yes.

Welcome aboard Tracy!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

WHY I DECIDED TO START “CASTING OFF THE COLD.”

I would like to share a story with you, about why I started Casting Off The Cold!!

When I was a little girl, I remember my Mom feeding the homeless on our property in Trinidad. I could not understand why she would do that, until she explained that these people did not have anything to eat or wear! Once a month, my Mom would tell one homeless person what day she would be cooking for them, and they would all be on our property very early on that day, and everyone in the family would help to feed them, and send them off with a beggar’s bag.

I came from a family of 12. Imagine, ten girls and two boys all scurrying around serving, and I always felt good after I did that. Anyway, when I came to Canada, I had no idea that I would see the same thing here.
Working in downtown TO, I was amazed to see so many homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks, and could not imagine this in a warm country, much less a COLD one. I did not have a lot of time to do anything then because of my job, working very long hours. I thought, so many times, that one day I would do something to help out with those in need. Hard to believe, but here I am 40 years later, when I said to myself that it was time to do something for the needy.

You never know when something like this might happen to you!!
So there’s my story - we all have one. What’s yours?

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

CROCHETVILLE JANUARY PROJECT FOR CASTING OFF THE COLD

Crochetville, an Internet crochet group, chose Casting Off The Cold for their January winter project 2008!!! WOW!! You would not believe the surprise I got,when I was told of the amount of items we have received from this wonderful group!

220 items !!!!!

A group of nineteen has been working for the past two months just for this project! We are grateful to know that these people are so caring and able to take time out from their busy days to make such beautiful things to send all over Canada and the States.

I am honoured that they chose Casting Off The Cold for their project, and appreciate the time they have put into it.

We would like to thank you all, on behalf of Casting Off The Cold, for helping us make a difference, especially as this year has been very cold and we need many knitted and crocheted items.

Thanks to Tracy Jennrich from Ballantrae, ON, for mentioning us. These items are going to LINUS PROJECT, ROSE OF SHARON, YELLOW BRICK HOUSE AND OTHER SHELTERS WE CAN HELP. If you would like to check out the photos of the items that were sent to us, click on the link below.

http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k187/tracyleigh_2006/Charity%20Crochet/January%202008/