ball | https://reliefshare.org/blog

Relief Share volunteers have been very active in taking care of the sick and needy this August. There were city wide garage sales to go to for supplies and new items like coloring books, crayons, toys, and clothing. Many hands make light work and beautiful donations arrived at Relief Share home office to be taken to where they were needed the most.

One of the really fun donations arriving lately were the tiny baby outfits and sleepers with beautifully handmade matching hats! Thanks to Minerva, for her loving kindness for the little babies we love and serve, she makes gorgeous baby items out of the prettiest colors.

Relief Share volunteers managed to find a business closing out and bought scads of onesies and newborn baby outfits for the hospital maternity unit. A donated wooden cradle was given to a church nursery for their toddlers. A box of school supplies full pencil crayons, masking tape, stapler, pencils, rulers and coloring crayons went to a local elementary teacher for her class.

Another way that folks help Relief Share get the supplies need is to shop on our Ebay auctions where 100% of the auctions go to Relief Share to help the sick and needy.

http://stores.ebay.com/dec2057

Volunteers spend long hours writing auctions, packing auctions and dealing with ebay customers to make sure it is a win/win for everyone involved.

Relief Share has three flea market booths donated for our use. It takes a lot of work to fill the booths and keep them tidy and clean. You will find unusual items in the booths, much of it donated from the founder’s home and their extended family loves to donate items for the booths as well. Recently a purge of the linen closet yielded up lots of unused sheets that were no longer needed since the kids have grown up and moved away, so they were tagged at $2 a piece and sold at the flea market so folks who needed them in the community could get them for a low price for their families. Not everyone needs a donation, but they can use a little help stretching their budget, so our flea market booth helps with that.

Where does it all go? Who needs our donations? This week donations were taken to Texas County Memorial Hospital to the maternity wing (baby clothing, bedding, and essentials), emergency department (comfort toys, coloring books, crayons, toy cars, etc), a teacher at the Houston Elementary School (school supplies), a local church nursery (a donated wooden cradle for the toddlers), and some individual donations of baby clothing and household goods.

You can help! Clean out your closets for a good cause and send the boxes and packages to Relief Share, 6078 Lundy Rd, Houston, MO 65483-2225. We are a 501 (c) 3 non-profit registered with the IRS and donations are tax deductible. Please include your name and mailing address in the donations so we can send you a thank you letter/tax receipt along with our gratitude and love.

We enjoy serving Gods tiniest children and their families and love to have you join our Relief Share family!

God bless the hands and hearts who put their love in action.

The wool in the dryer balls wick away extra moisture, drying the clothes faster and with the quite soft beating motion in the dryer from the balls makes the clothing soft and keeps the static down. It is a huge plus to be free from the chemicals in fabric softeners and fabric sheets, too.

These are three I just made from wool yarn. You can make them quickly for yourself, your friends and family and to donate to charity, too.

Here is the pattern to crochet them.
1 skein yarn
1 crochet hook

With wool yarn (we recommend Fisherman’s wool yarn from Hobby Lobby – the price is good and it felts well), and a crochet hook (we like size G) make a magic ring. Here is a link to a youtube tutorial on how to do a magic ring if you don’t already know how – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLuSVyKvoUg and crochet 8 sc in the ring. Pull tight and slip stitch into the first sc to make the first ring.

For the second row, chain 2, dc in the same stitch. Follow the instructions in the bracket to the end of the row – (dc in next stitch and 2 dc in the stitch after that) dc in the last stitch that you just did 2 dc in. Slip stitch in the last stitch to close. This will make half of the cover – a domed shape.

Repeat row 2 for row three. That is the other half of the cover. You will now have 2 half domes that will be whip stitched together over a ball of yarn you have rolled from the same wool yarn. To roll the ball of yarn check out this tutorial on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=equs45JCHwo You will note in the picture that some of the balls have more than just three rows. You can make the balls as big or as small as you like by adding or deleting rows.

These balls are quick and easy to do. After you have them done, toss them in the washer with your laundry, pour the laundry detergent for the load right on the balls. Use hot/cold setting for the load as the temperature extremes, soap, and washer agitation will felt the balls so they work better and hold together better with use. Toss them in the dryer and leave them there permanently. I use approx 8 to 1o balls in my dryer as I tend to do full loads. If you are doing small loads you can use 5 to 6 balls.

Use up your scraps of wool yarn as well by simply tying the ends of shorter pieces – as you crochet the tied ends wind up inside the covers so you don’t see them. These dryer balls are a wonderful gift for a new mother as fabric softeners can cause allergic reactions in small babies. We make them for the refugee center and other places who are helping folks get on their feet with household goods.
The same pattern from acrylic or cotton or blended yarn makes wonderful soft toss toys for the children in the hospital, homeless shelters, crisis centers and for individuals in need who would love safe toys for their children.

Do you have a variation on the dryer ball pattern? Please share, we would love to hear from you.

Carol Green
President
info@ReliefShare.org

https://reliefshare.org/blog

Relief Share is love in action. You can be the difference in the lives of those less fortunate.

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