A few years ago, when Japan was unexpectedly drenched by a tsunami I felt compelled to help. I tried all the normal routes and kept meeting up against difficulty, negative responses and just requests for money. All I wanted to do was to send blankets to the survivors who were camping under tarpaulins.
No.
I was not going to hand over cash to an anonymous collector for it to go to a collective 'pot' I wanted to directly help those that had suffered.
By chance more than luck I was finally put in touch with an English girl who at the time of the tsunami was living right in the path of the wave but her home miraculously survived whilst all around her neighbourhood vanished.
She became my contact. A plan was hatched to send to her small blankets for babies and children as well as hats and knitted teddies and she would take them down to the rescue centre.
Knitted and crocheted blankets were easy to sort, I put out an appeal and soon crocheted and knitted squares arrived in the post and we as a knitting group assembled them into piles of blankets and once a week parcels were sent to Japan. It kept us busy for months!
Today's hearts come in the form of stamps from a very kind French crafter who had crocheted a delightful selection of squares for us to add to our collection of blankets.
.JPG)
Are they not the most attractive and sweet and colourful stamps!
.JPG)
Thank you to all those knitters and crocheters out there who stood up and made squares for the blankets - we could not have done it without you xxx
and we wouldn't have done it but for you xxx
ReplyDeleteI agree,such lovely stamps. How busy everyone was during these months, so gratifying to see pictures of the blankets etc being handed out.
ReplyDeleteIt can be very difficult to respond to such disasters - as you so rightly say you want to help directly, not have a donation vanish into a general fund. The stamps are fabulous - so much better than ours!
ReplyDeleteA wonderful post and the stamps are stunning with gorgeous colours and a lovely reminder
ReplyDeleteof times past.
I am with you with donations, right to the source.
luv
irene
xxxx
That was lovely
ReplyDeleteJulie xxxxxx
What a fantastic thing to have done. I get so frustrated that the "only" way to give these days is to donate cash! I wanted to make some lap blankets for elderly people (after my nan died, it just felt right to me) but I found it almost impossible to find a way to do anything. Well done you. :) x
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovley way to help. I'm not one for just giving money, so I know where you're coming from. Love the hearts on the parcel. Take care.
ReplyDeletethat's such a lovely thing to do xxx
ReplyDeleteYes, we had fun joining up all the beautiful squares sent in by kind bloggers from around the world, but as Angela said, we would not have done it without your efforts. xx
ReplyDelete