I believe I have posted before about our annual Christmas project. Indulge me though, let me tell the story.

History

Somewhere around ten years ago, I worked for Piper Jaffray and I headed up a lot of their volunteer efforts. This was well known around the company. Adopt-a-Family was one of those events. I’ll spare that explanation – look it up if you need. The fact you should know is that all donations are gathered, and presents bought weeks before Christmas.

A day or two before Christmas, as I was walking through the building, a pretty high level broker stopped me and gave me $200 cash…

“For Adopt-a-Family” he said

“Oh, that’s all done” I said

“Do something with the money”

“What?”

“You’ll figure it out; I trust you”

Okaayyyyy

“Think” I said to myself….

The Union Gospel Mission is near my house. I've supported them in many ways over the years. Since they only serve adult males, they can take open food. Many times over the year, I've brought them serious leftovers from meetings at the businesses I've worked at. One time, I carried THREE FULL SHEET cake boxes full of pastries to my car…. 8 blocks….. Another time, I put popcorn, pretzels and cookies from bowls (FULL bowls) into plastic bags and dropped them there. The men love the food and are appreciative.

In the years that I had been doing community service work, I had learned that there are Christmas present programs for families, single parents (both male and female), children, and even adult women. However, I've never seen a large scale program that supports gift giving to adult males. So, I decided that that $200 was going to adult males. Little did I know that it was the start of something long term.

I called over to the Target store next door to my office and asked them to put together 40 - $5 gift cards for me.

Yes, I called ahead.

I did NOT show up at an overworked cashier wanting FORTY cards activated on one of the busiest shopping days of the year!

Now that I've been working for Target corporate for a few years, I am even gladder that I called ahead! I would have been embarrassed if my current coworkers found out I didn't!

On Christmas Eve, Chris, the kids, and I went to the mission and handed out the cards. We couldn't give one to everyone, but we got quite a few people.

One man looked at me, looked at the card, looked back at me and said….

“Thank you, now I can buy socks”.

Socks….

Yes….

Socks….

I recently cleaned out my sock drawer. I could wear a different pair of socks each day for several months without having to wash anything.

It’s shocked me. It’s a line that floats in my head and I've never forgotten. I can do a Sheldon Cooper and tell you where I was in the building, the time of day, etc. (I just can’t tell you what the man looked like because I don’t do facial recognition).

I discussed with my husband, organized and by the time Christmas rolled around the next year, I had 30 dozen pairs of socks on my front porch and a plan.

In short, we put together and wrap 75 present bundles for the men at the mission and hand them out.

We started with 100, but we had a lot left over. We settled on 75 after two years, and have stuck with it. One year, we had way too many and went to another shelter with the extras. Big mistake. The men at the mission are grateful, thank us, and are polite; that was not the case at the other place. We decreed that we would only do this project at the mission from then forward.

The Contents of the Bundles

Main Items

It’s changed over the years, but there are three main items that go into the bundle:

Socks. This started it, so of course socks!

Buying the socks has changed over the years. A couple years, I bought from a whole sale place online. One year it was a great deal, the next year the only deal was a box of socks that we had to match ourselves, then the next year it was a good deal again. Another time, we had a lot from previous years, so we paid retail at Wally World to supplement. Last year, a quilting buddy Jo Ann joined us and brought about half the socks. This year, she bought the socks herself; she found an awesome deal at another online place.

Scarves. Fleece scarves actually, all cut out ourselves.

I buy remnants of fleece, and sometimes yardage, from Joanne’s and cut out scarves that are width of the fleece (about 50-60 inches) and 6-9 inches wide. It all depends upon the size of the pieces that I have. The scarves are simple, but warm and effective.

Candy. Everyone needs a little treat!!!

Other Items

Over the years, we've added other things to the bundles as we've had money, ideas, been given things, etc. Some have been hits, other times they weren't that great

Good:

Razors
Toothbrushes (Jo Ann found an internet deal and handed them out to trick or treaters too!)
Towels. Ana found towels on Black Friday for a really cheap price. Chris refers to them as “hotel towels”. They are not what spoiled me would have, but they are full sized, white (white is the most absorbent color because it hasn't had to absorb dye) and not too plush, so lighter weight/fold up well.

Maybe:

Playing cards. I got a ton of them from thrift stores and dollar stores. It worked out to be cheap and I have seen mission residents playing cards. I've contemplated going to the Casinos to get on their donation list, but I know some people object to cards and the Mission is a religious organization.
Washcloths. We did towels this year, and I’ll let you know how those go over, but men with a nomadic life often don’t need extra items, and, face it, 99% of the washcloth use in this house is me.
Notepads and pens. Cost a bit, and most people probably didn't use/need. There’s a lot of free notepads and pens out there anyway

Bad:

Knit hats. A group of women knit 100 hats for us to give out. They were definitely regarded as “cheesy homemade” items and we didn't repeat that

Financing

We get no grants for this. Everything is paid for by us. One year, a friend gave me $50 to use towards the project, but that’s it. We can afford to buy 75 each of a few items and it goes a long way to our credibility.

A bundle with socks, scarf, candy and misc., is not going to dramatically change the life of one of the recipients. However, the knowledge that a family (extended with friends now) takes the time to buy, wrap and hand deliver a few items WILL send a good message.

We are often asked “who is this from?” We are met with incredulous looks and admiration when we tell them “US”. We get asked “what organization” and other similar questions; and we can see the realization on faces when we explain that we’ve taken time to do this on our own.

Also along that “we care” line – Bags versus Paper. The first few years that we did this, we setup bags in the living room and assembly line filled them with the items and then taped them shut.

Then came the year that genius me forgot to buy bags. We had NONE.

That was also the year that we put off putting the bundles together until Christmas day….

No, you cannot find 75 paper sacks in the Twin Cities on Christmas day. The only option we found was gift bags at Wal-Mart for about $1 apiece.

Luckily, we (okay, mostly me) are bargain shoppers and hoarders. In my defense, we have a big attic! Also, my hoarding came in quite well in this COMMUNITY SERVICE case, so I feel justified!!!

I had stashed several dozen rolls of wrapping paper (bought at 90% off). It didn't take too long to wrap the gifts. We’ll admit that the wrapping job wasn't the prettiest… And, the lack of cellophane tape was mitigated with masking tape from the painting supply bin….

The reaction that we got to the WRAPPED presents assured that we would be wrapping each subsequent year. The men really noticed that little effort and were touched by it more than even white paper sacks (versus brown). It also further illustrated that these were personal gifts – us to them.

This Year’s Effort

Jo Ann, her friend Monique, Chris and I spent two hours sorting, organizing and wrapping this afternoon.

A good time was had by all!

Delivery will be sometime after 10 on Christmas Day.

Contents of the Bundles

1 towel (we only had 50 some, so the last few got an extra pair of socks)
5 pairs of socks
Fleece Scarf
Toothbrush
Candy Cane (12 for a dollar at Cub!!)
Handful of miniature candies

Pictures

And here are a few shots to illustrate this story!

The box of socks:

Jo Ann (in white), Monique (on the floor), and Chris (backside). You can see towels, the bowl of candy, and a box of tooth brushes (on the table by Jo Ann)

Jo Ann (in white), Monique (on the floor, mostly blocked), and Chris (backside). Nice smile on my hubby there!

Jo Ann putting together a bundle.

A view of the table where I was working. See the wrapping paper and empty rolls? Also notice the wrapped packages on the chair.

Glass

In one of my September 2012 posts, I discussed the various types of glass and showed my attempts at working with very hard – borosilicate – glass. You can see that post here.

The efforts were not pretty….

I’ve also discussed a lot about my version of art (very organized, geometric) versus organic art and that I will never be good at Torch Work but that I enjoy it and will continue.

Today, I retook the Borosilicate glass because I felt I needed more assistance and because I got the glass for half price. Yay Groupon/LivingSocial/etc.!!! The coupon from one of them is what originally brought me to Potek Glass and I just love taking their classes. I prefer the Studio at Rush Creek for my open studio time, but the classes at Potek are professional and geared to only glass artists/enthusiasts.

Even if you have to pay full price, I HIGHLY recommend going to Potek for ALL their “Try-It” classes. They are focused classes and packed with information AND hands on activities. I've had all their primary instructors; each is different and all are good. I prefer Annie over the rest; just feel comfortable with her. She’s a good teacher, a good artist and a comfortable person for me to be around. She’s not overly social/seeking out conversation as some instructors are, nor does she come across as cold or critical. Not that other instructors there are – just that I have run into those traits at other places.

As I've said many times, I have my social ineptitude; taking classes from Annie is just how I want it – acceptance of personal recognition but totally focused on the class and the information given. So, I would also say she’s Asperger friendly!! A “good work” comment from her is honest, and she doesn't put me on the spot. This seems little, but I have issues with “fitting in” at some places (never going back to the Mosaic place – that was all about popularity and “Party” atmosphere). This was my second time taking the class, and she didn't make any kind of deal out of that. I didn't feel criticized for needing more help, nor did I receive false praise for my work being a little bit ahead of some of the others (mostly that I could light the torch with the striker…!)

I got a lot out of the class; realized where I was going wrong with some steps and, overall, feel more comfortable with the process. I think there was a little improvement in the projects done in the class (note: the same exact format was followed and did the same projects).