More Shorts Sent!

Today Terri Cobb and I mailed another 800 pairs of shorts to Haiti. Terri knows a lady who knows a missionary, Roberta Edwards, stationed in Haiti. She works in an orphanage. We wanted to send her some of the shorts. I will be sending her a letter telling her that she can keep all the shorts she needs and ask her to distribute the rest of the shorts to others in need. I am excited to know that the shorts are arriving in Haiti. It has been really interesting to see how this process works. In order to send the packages to her, we had to mail them to Ft. Pierce, Fl where she has a shipping account. Then we have to send money to her account in Ft. Pierce and they will ship the packages out of Ft. Pierce on to Haiti. When they ship to Haiti, they will bill her account the amount of shipping. Also, I am sending a letter and asking for a response, so I am sending a self-addressed stamped envelope and all I need for that is regular US postage. Regular US postage will get the response letter all the way from Haiti to the US. Oh, well !!! Anyway, this process is all very interesting. I will spend June, July, and part of August making shorts to send with Lee and Eddie Cooper. Their entire family will be making a trip there in August. I visited my sister in Florida in April, had a wedding at my home on May 8th and took a week off when my husband did in May, so I have used up all of my vacation time already!!! Now, in order to make the 5000 by January 18, I must make more than 100 a week or I can't take off any more time because I had allowed only two week off all year. At the end of the week I will have made more than 1600 pairs of shorts. I can't wait to hit 2500, half way.

Help from the Neighborhood!!

Linda Walters is a dear friend that lives two doors down. Last week she called me and asked if she could help so, on Friday, she came by and picked up patterns and fabric and over the weekend she cut out 70 pairs of shorts. How precious is that!!!! Even more, she asked for more fabric and said she had more time this week and wanted to cut out more. Thank you Linda for your help and your friendship.

Fabric From Meridian, Mississippi

I have a dear friend, Debbie Boyd, that moved to Mississippi. She was such an integral part of my life that things just haven't been the same since her leaving. However, we have kept in touch and when we visit, it is if we have never been apart. I am sure all of you have had friends like this. Well, in keeping with her usual kind self, she and her precious daughter Kristin, bought and mailed some fabric from Meridian. So, Debbie and Kristin here are the shorts you have provided for those precious children of Haiti. Thank you so very much!!!

Shorts from Arizona!

In a previous blog I mentioned a friend, Cissy Lieblong, that was going to make shorts in Arizona. Well, Cissy dropped in last week and brought 21 pairs of denim shorts, 25 onesies, and one short, onesie, t-shirt trio. They are all just precious. The denim shorts are a great idea, great for either girls or boys. Cissy said her goal was to make enough shorts to give me a week off. What a precious friend!!! Thank you so much Cissy for all your hard work. The shorts are adorable and the onesies are a great idea.

Sharing Shirley's Shorts

In a previous blog, I mentioned a lady named Shirley Bridger that was helping by making shorts. She made some precious shorts with pockets. Notice how perfectly she aligned the stripes. I put a piece of paper in the pockets so you could see them more clearly. She sure does great work. I just had to share those with you. Thank you, Shirley, for all your hard work.

Ten Weeks, One Thousand Pairs!!!

This week was the completion of 10 weeks and 1000 pairs of shorts!!! I am so excited to be 1/5 of the way to completion. It has been so nice to see all the community support I am getting for this project. This week several members of Junior Auxiliary of Jonesboro, an organization in which I have been a member, donated money for the purchase of more fabric. Sandi Pierce and Lisa Moore both friends here in Jonesboro also donated money and with that money I was able to purchase 300 yards of adorable fabric and 24 five-hundred yard spools of thread. This will make at least 600 pairs of shorts. Thanks so much to all of you for your donation. The photo above are shorts made with some of the fabric I purchased with the donated funds. It is so exciting to see God's hand in this project. A few weeks ago, I was leaving Hancock fabric with a lot of elastic and a lady in line behind me noticed the elastic and asked what I was doing. I explained my goal and we continued to talk as we walked out to our vehicles. In short order, we realized that we both attended First Baptist Church. As we continued to talk, she said she might like to help. This weekend she called and she had made some shorts and I will be picking them up from her next Sunday from the Sunday School class she teaches. She also said she would like to continue to help with this project. I am so excited to have the help and it is a joy to meet such precious people like Mrs. Shirley Bridger. Thank you Shirley for taking your time to provide shorts for those in need. 1000 pairs of shorts down, 4000 to go.

An Exciting Day

God is good!!! I have mentioned my brother David in previous blogs, he is the one who has been trying to help me get an address in which I could ship the shorts. He had several options, however, at the time, they were taking only meds and he suggested that I wait to ship. I told him that I was glad to wait, I could box then up and store them until I got an opportunity to ship. Almost immediately, and I mean within the hour, I received an e-mail from one of my High School friends, Terri Cobb. She told me about an organization that she had heard about through the school in which she teaches, BIC. BIC has been collecting stuffed animals to give to the children as well, so they were also looking for a shipping source. So, Yesterday, Terri, Regina Welch, another friend from Leachville, and I delivered 765 pairs of shorts and a truckload of stuffed animals to the Churches of Christ International Relief Ministry Warehouse in Judsonia, AR. They were delighted to get the stuffed animals and the shorts. They were particularly delighted to see that the shorts were new, pressed and counted. They have a lot of used clothing donated and they will not ship out any until they go through and check each piece for wear, lost buttons, stains, etc. Then they count each item so they know exactly how many items are shipped. On the 18 of this month, next week, they will send all of their Haiti designated items to another warehouse where they will then be loaded onto a 40 foot long shipping crate, put on a ship and then be shipped to Haiti. The thing I most appreciated about the organization is that they are greatly accountable. They will receive a notice when the shipment arrives in the other port, when it is put on the ship and when it arrives in Haiti, and then when the items arrive at the Children's Home in Haiti which will be the final destination of the items we took. They took time to show us their facility and explained what they were doing all around the world. It was amazing. Last year that warehouse alone shipped out 35 forty foot crates to different destinations worldwide. They will be making two or three more shipments to Haiti this year and said they would be glad to ship the shorts for me. Also, did I mention that the shipping is free to me. It was truly an exciting day. I would like to thank Cindy Calhoun that also made shorts. She dropped them off last week and I was able to take those shorts as well. One last note, I have been buying elastic from Hancock fabric and have been paying full price, so I spoke with the local store manager, Ms. Anita, and asked if it could be discounted considering what I was doing with the elastic and she said she could not make that decision and that she would check with the district manager. Well, he was sick and in the hospital when she checked. When I went in the next week the elastic was an item chosen to be reduced to half price, so I ordered 300 yards. Then the following week Ms Anita called me and said, "I thought you would want to know that the elastic is on 1/2 price again, thought you might like to order more." I thanked her and ordered another 300 yards. That 600 yards should make about 1000-1200 pairs, then, I will order more. The photos are shorts bagged and ready for shipment and a particularly cute pair of shorts with turtles and frogs. Thanks for your support and phone calls and e-mails.