COMMUNITY SERVICE PAGE

ASG National Service Project for 2008
 

Provision of Anti-Ouch Pouches for cancer and chest surgery patients has been designated as the 2008 ASG National Service Project by the Chicago Chapter which will be hosting the 2008 Annual Conference.    As in 2007, the Raleigh Chapter will sponsor a sew-in day, to be announced early next year to prepare our contributions.   Click here for more information on the National ASG Web Site.

 

 

Some of our previous Community Service Projects...................

i-Care Garments for Shriners' Hospital for Children

In 2007, the ASG National Service Project supplied garments to the Shriners' Hospital for Children in Sacramento, California.  In response to a need for pajamas designed to meet the special needs of their patients, the American Sewing Guild, Inc. and Wild Ginger Software, Inc.  teamed up to provide a free program for drafting custom and standard sized sewing patterns for gown, pajamas and accessories for patient medical care.  Our chapter held an I-Care sewing day to complete over 35 garment which were then taken to the annual convention in Sacramento.

 

Personal Toiletry Bags

Following Hurricane Katrina many flood victims were forced to leave their homes with little more than the garments on their backs and endure the hardships of living in shelters with little privacy and almost no storage space.  The Raleigh Chapter of the ASG working with one of our retailers, Sew Unique Sewing Center, hosted several sew-in days to make colorful personal toiletry bags for shelter occupants.  Working with the local Girl Guides and Brownies, the groups complete and stuffed well over 150 bags to deliver to the shelter.

Bags not needed at the shelter were donated to a shelter for homeless and abused women.

 

Bereavement Envelopes

Once again the Raleigh Day Group sponsored a Chapter-wide invitation to make bereavement envelopes for the Wake Medical Center.  Thirteen members gathered at Millbrook Millbrook United Methodist Church on May 17, with their sewing machines and equipment
borrowed from our Chapter to make the envelopes.
Linda Stander, Linda Fowlston and Pat Moore had been preparing for this for a couple of months, reminding us each meeting to bring
fabrics we could donate — pretty fabric, not too loud, but sort of soft. We had lots of donations, both fabric and financial. Our members
really came through. Some people cut ribbons, some cut fabric, some were folding and pressing, and others stitching. And, some kept changing their tasks as a need arose.

At last count, we had completely finished 84 and were pretty close to completing nearly 100 envelopes. If you know Pat Moore, she doesn’t allow any slackers, so we were all on our best behavior. The bereavement envelopes will be donated to Wake Medical Center. Envelopes will be used to hold information the hospital provides for grieving parents and families of infants who do not survive. It is hard to believe that so many infants are lost this day and time, but the hospitals maintain that they really do have a need for this type of thing.
It is indeed a sad thing, but we hope our gift will help to soothe the aching hearts of those who have lost a child, and that they will know that somebody out there really does care.

Comfort Caps

The Cary group was recognized by the local newspaper, the Cary News for its comfort cap sew-in last June, and received a further letter of appreciation from the local representative to the North Carolina General Assembly  -
"I enjoyed reading about you in the Cary News.  It is heartwarming to read a story about a group that meets to do good for others.  Your project of sewing comfort caps for local chemotherapy patients is one of those stories.  Thank you for caring.  We are fortunate to have you all in our community."

The Saturday AM Neighborhood Group also held a comfort cap sew-in, completing 60 caps which were delivered to the Duke Health Raleigh Hospital.  The director of the new cancer center at the hospital was overwhelmed and grateful for the contribution and was anxious to present the caps to his staff at the next day's meeting.

Layette Bags

Chapter members and / or Neighborhood Groups are being asked to make fabric bags for layette items to be given to new mothers with limited income and/or Medicaid.  These women would otherwise not have any medical care during and after pregnancy.  Women who complete 10 classes in childbirth, parenting, and healthy habits is eligible for a bag of goodies when her child is born.

Helping Hands Shirts

Have you ever wondered what to do with your husband's old shorts or your own blouses?  The North Raleigh Neighborhood Group began a community service project making Helping Hands Shirts intended for people in rest homes with limited mobility.  Shirt / blouse front openings are stitched closed and the backs are slit open, edges finished and a Velcro closure is provided at the neck.  With these shirts, rest home residents in wheelchairs or beds can feel 'dressed'  even though they are no longer able to wear regular garments.

ZIP IT AND RIP IT COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT

Chuck Millsaps from Layers Outdoor in Raleigh donated 18 fleece jackets and the zippers for fixing them to the Raleigh ASG if we were willing to do the repairs and then donate the jackets to a charitable organization. 
 

Thanks to the participants of the January Stitch Camp, all the zippers were removed from the jackets, which made the next step much easier.
Many thanks to Dolores, Roberta, and Mary for spending the  better part of a day replacing zippers! We all know how much fun that job is.  The jackets were donated to an Eckerd Youth Alternatives Camp in Low Gap, NC. The camp is nestled up in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the coats were sure to be put to good use immediately!

Other Neighborhood Groups have been

ASG Members:
If your neighborhood group has a community service organization you would like to post to this page so that it can be shared with other members, please send the information and/or the web address on the organization  to the  webmaster@asgraleigh.org.

If you have been involved in a community service project please let us know about it by completing a community service project report form and send it to the address listed on the form.

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