LWR at QALC
At QALC we are actively involved in making school and personal care kits as well as the QALCW sewing quilts and blankets for the baby layettes. Every spring and fall the men’s group helps load the trucks for shipping at a regional Ingathering. For more information contact Rich or Candy Mathes.
LWR 2024 Spring Ingathering Kit Supply Needs:
We need 30 more bath towels for our LWR Personal Care Kits. LWR specifications are “ONE light-weight bath-size towel (between 20” x 40” and 52” x 27”), dark colors recommended” Many of the kits go to people in refugee camps or places without washers (or dryers) so darker colors are preferred. Also, “light-weight” is important because most recipients will air dry their bath towels outside, in sometimes-humid locations. The heavy, plush bath-towels sold in the U.S. are not what is needed in places without washers and dryers.
Target has dark gray bath-towels (52″ x 26″) for $3.00 under the brand “Room Essentials.” If you get them delivered, order 12 and shipping is free. However, you can only order 10 dark gray; I fill in with light gray.
Amazon has “spa towels” that are 20″ x 40″, 100% cotton, but cost $3.80-$4.
Carol Ann has found 30″ x 52″ bath towels at Big Lots. Price is $4, but she noted that if you shop at Big Lots often, you may have discounts that bring the towels down below $3.
We also need fifty 4-oz. (NOT 3.5 or 3.0.oz.) bars of Ivory Soap. They cost from 75 cents to $1 per bar, in packs of 4 or 10, usually. The kits need to include at least 8 oz, so three 3 oz bars would be needed if we packed the smaller ones.
The other Personal Care Kit items are purchased in bulk, so if you want to contribute funds to offset those costs, please write a check to “QALC Women—LWR kits” for the Sunday offering (or specify “QALC Women—LWR Kits” if you use PayPal).
LWR School Kits—we try to purchase items in July–September, when Fred Meyer, Walmart, etc. have “back to school specials.” We should have enough School Kit supplies for this spring 2024.
—Rich Mathes
I Don’t Sew—How Can I Help with LWR Projects? Ideas:
1
Donations are always needed for our Baby Layettes.
Watch for 12- to18-months sized jackets for the Baby Layettes. That was the item most needed when items were last counted! Other items include T-shirts, knit pants, (Most useful sizes are 9-18 months), layette gowns, socks, diapers/pins, and blankets. Questions? Ask Jennifer Jones.
2
LWR School Supplies—Catch the Sales
Please go shopping during summer “back to school sales,” to help us create School Kits for Lutheran World Relief and for CORE Tanzania’s school.
Our goal is 75 School Kits. Each kit needs:
- Five ballpoint pens—black or blue ink. No gel pens. You can buy larger sets—we’ll re-package them in fives.
- Ruler—must be metric. Wood-with-a-metal edge; metal, or hard plastic
- Pencil Sharpener.
- Blunt Scissors
- Crayons—24-pack
- 5” Eraser
- Four 70-page spiral bound notebooks—college or wide ruled.
(So, for 75 kits, we need 300 notebooks.) - No pencils are needed at this time.
Quilting at the Church:
The Sewing and Service group has weekly Wednesday sessions at the church —please come if you are willing and able! We meet each Wednesday from 10 AM until 1 PM.
The PDQ Quilters also meet on the second Monday of each month in the evening at 5:30 PM. It is great to quilt with Pastor Kristy Daniels, and members of the Church of Steadfast Love. The tradition in this group has been to share a meal; at this time we are asking everyone to bring their own supper and we will eat together that way.
We need dark-colored cotton sheets for quilt backs (lots of tops have been made this past year) and size LARGE men’s cotton t-shirts for making diapers! Baby kits include Sweaters—12 – 24 months, Baby T – Shirts and Pants (no feet in pants). And we ALWAYS need bars of Ivory soap for the kits.
Find more opportunities to serve others:
What is Lutheran World Relief?
Lutheran World Relief (LWR) is an international nonprofit organization specializing in International Development and Disaster Relief. It was headquartered in New York, but has been based in Baltimore, Maryland since 1995. LWR promotes sustainable development by helping communities increase the quality of life, engage in Fair Trade, and be better equipped to handle emergencies.
Part of LWR’s work includes responding to disasters. In the wake of the 2004 Southeast Asia Tsunami, Newsweek ranked LWR as one of the best international relief agencies, giving LWR an “A+” rating. LWR continues to receive high rankings from organizations such as the American Institute of Philanthropy, who gave LWR an A rating in 2007 through 2010, and Charity Navigator, who rated LWR the maximum four stars.
Our LWR Quilts found themselves in Beirut at the time of the explosion in 2020. Go here for more about that event.
Baby care kits and personal care kits, boxed and ready.
A beautiful fan quilt:
School kits:
Boxing everything up after worship:
