Just go visit and help ok?
Crafters Contributing to Bushfire Appeal
The last few days have been so harrowing. Watching and listening to news reports and following Twitter reports on the bush fires has been overwhelming at times. I am afraid to discuss how many lives have been lost as I know that the number will go up even before I finish writing this post.
For those of us crafters who have limited incomes and resources it’s a bit hard to know what to do to help. One thing we’re good at is banding together as a community to pool small amounts of resources into big resources.
So here’s some places to check out if you’re a crafter and want to help.
The two most important resources that are needed right now are money and blood.
If you are eligible to donate blood (which a lot of people aren’t so if you are, congratulations you’re special!) please call 13 14 95 to make an appointment or visit http://donateblood.com.au As someone who used to work for the blood service I’ll also add that if you’re an existing donor please consider getting on the plasma program now. And if you’re a new donor, please be aware that it does take longer to process new donors so it might take a bit longer to get an appointment. But PLEASE make one, even if it’s in a couple of weeks. The first time is always the longest but it gets easier after that. And Australia does have shocking blood donor rates, so do your bit and get on board!
Secondly of course is money.
To Donate To The Salvation Army Bushfire Appeal – 137258 (13SALVOS)
To Donate To The Red Cross Bushfire Appeal – 1800 811 700
If you have spare money, please do that now!
For those in other parts of the world looking to help, consider purchasing a Bushfire Appeal item from Etsy. There’s lots of sellers donating items across Etsy as fundraising items, you can see them all here. Alternatively you can donate and buy items from the OzBushFireApppeal Store that has been set up. I’ve dedicated a heap of items to the fundraising effort including a bunch of patterns and hoopla. You can see all the items here. I’ve already made some sales so the effort is under way.
Other crafters are starting to make items to donate when the calls for new clothes and toys start to come out from the support agencies. Pip at Meet Me At Mikes is collating information for people wanting to make items to donate.
But of course most importantly now is the cash. If you have any spare dollars, please call one of the numbers above and give what you can. And join with me in sending our prayers to all the communities still on fire and protecting their lives and homes from Mother Nature’s fury.
(photo nicked from flickr off some guy that nicked it off theage.com.au)
Baby Jerseys for a cause!
As some of you know but probably most of you don’t, I live in what’s considered to be the poorest neighbourhood in Melbourne. The suburb is formerly an industrial area and is still pretty heavily dominated by industrial land. It was also formerly predominantly state housing. There was a big sell off during the Kennett years (I think) but there’s still a lot of public housing. And a lot of the housing that was sold off was bought by the people living in it.
It’s also a suburb with a significant proportion of immigrants specifically refugees. There’s a high proportion of African and Vietnamese residents (and a few kiwis!).
This suburb has a pretty bad history of neglect. There is a very high unemployment rate and low education rate. So of course substance abuse is a significant issue round these parts. And of course flowing form that is a pretty high rate of drug related theft, mostly theft but occasionally violent crime.
Despite all this, we have a lot of good stuff going on round here. The Maribyrnong River runs along the side of the suburb and there’s some lovely walks to be had along the river. We have a few good parks with lots of growing trees and good playground equipment. Our major park is undergoing a major upgrade which will see a heap more trees, more sport facilities and an indigenous welcome area.
We also have an amazing community centre which provides a space for exercise classes, playgroup and childcare, health care, community gardens, computer education and access, a tool ‘shed’ (biggest shed I’ve ever seen!) and tool library, craft groups, cooking groups, you name it we’ve probably got it.
But of course being a smaller, poorer suburb, we don’t get the investment in services that some of the bigger, richer suburbs get. So some of the older women in our community use their amazing craft skills to make items to sell to raise money. Unfortunately the small table they have in the reception area of the community centre doesn’t get much foot traffic so they don’t get seen much. So I decided to grab some and put them online.
First off I’ve got a pile of gorgeous wee baby jerseys which are all hand knitted and designed to stretch really well so they’ll last baby a while. Here’s couple but I’ve got a heap more so keep an eye on the store for more. And if you’re interested in a specific colour let me know and I’ll see what’s in stock.
I think at $15 they’re very reasonably priced, and all profits go straight to our local community.
See more in the Radical Rags Etsy Store