Did you know October 24 is National Make A Difference Day? September 9 is National Hoop Day for hoola hoopers, but that's another topic.
During National Make a Difference Day, Binky Patrol Comforting Covers for Kids celebrates by having their local chapters gather for the day to make as many blankets as possible. These blankets are then delivered to children in need of comfort. Those who are ill, abused, experiencing trauma, binky angels who never get to come home - they all get binkies.
In the Portland/Beaverton, Oregon area, we are gathering on my daughter's birthday - Saturday,October 10 from 9 - 3 to sew as many binkies as possible for local area shelters and make the hand-tied fleece binkies. If you can barely sew, have a machine, want to donate fleece or want to help, please let us know via email: binky@binkypatrol.org. Learn more on the Binky Patrol webiste >>
Last year's Bink-A-Thon (BAT) involved 14 states and produced over 2500 blankets within 6 hours. Money was raised to help offset costs for each chapter - batting, yarn, postage stamps and printing of promotional materials to gain more volunteers.
If you aren't near a Bink-A-Thon location or would like to help from a distance you can do it a couple of ways:
Sponsor a Bink-A-Thon participant or chapter. Pledge an amount of money
per binky made or a flat amount. Some people like to sponsor chapters
in their own state to help that chapter's efforts to make binkies for
local children and teens. Some like to sponsor the "home" chapter for
the national effort.
You can also make "kits". Enough fabric to make a 36 x 48 binky is a
"kit". Just send it to headquarters, or drop off near your local
chapter, or mail to another participating chapter.
This is a great school project. Let the students each decorate a cotton square with a positive message. Turn them in to a few volunteer parents who like to sew or mail them in to Binky Patrol, HQ. They'll be made into blankets and delivered to local area shelters and hospitals. The students can learn how they made a difference in the life of a child just like them.
Would you like to have your own event? You can. It doesn't have to be big. Here are some ideas >>
---------------------------------
Susan Finch is the founder of Binky Patrol, Inc. What began as a mission to allow people to volunteer without a schedule, quota or training evolved into a national organization within a month of the first meeting. There are over 100 Binky Patrol chapters across the country.
Their motto: One binky is better than no binkies. If a binky is handmade, from the heart and washable - it's PERFECT!
Comments