In my family we frequent the Salvation Army store. It provides us with good quality clothing at prices we can afford. But the best part about buying clothes, books, yarn, needles, hooks, jewelry ect from the Salvation Army is that 100% of the proceeds go BACK to the community in which the store is maintained. Now I am not sure when I first started visiting the boutique in Massena, NY that hand knitted or crocheted items crossed my mind until I saw a rack of lovely hand knit scarves for sale. I thought it was a brilliant way to help out.
The Salvation Army is 150 years old, the unit we frequent in Massena has been in place for 50 years. Lets go back in time... as a child I remember the Salvation Army being a very big presence in Syracuse, where I grew up. I remember seeing the Salvation Army Band on Television during the holidays, I remember listening to the voices of the officers over the radio asking for our help in donating clothes, and of course the Red Kettle drive. When I got older I was privileged to work in radio as an announcer for the Mars Hill Network. I would play the public service announcements from the Syracuse Salvation Army Hub. It was thrilling to see them meet their goal year after year. For many deeply personal reasons I make things to donate to the Salvation Army but the biggest reason has to be my children. I am blessed to be able to knit for them warm hats, scarves, and mittens. Knowing my family is warm on cold days makes me feel very happy. But I know, not all people have that ability, nor are they able to afford to buy yarn to make something special for their little ones. The very best part about donating is knowing that everything I donate gets put right back in the community so that my family can reach out to another family right here in Northern NY. Right now the Salvation Army is about to expand into its 127th country! Basically if you are reading this Blog there is probably a Salvation Army working near to you and you can volunteer or donate in your community too. http://www.newfrontierchronicle.org/the-salvation-army-to-expand-into-127th-country/ Many local Salvation Army centers have groups that knit, crochet, or sew to aid in their outreach programs. I am not a part of any group that does this work, I simply take special items with me when I go to visit the boutique I leave the items with the volunteers in the store so that they can direct them to the best program. Its not my goal to create another program or to interrupt their work merely to offer what I can to assist them. https://www.facebook.com/MassenaSalvationArmy?fref=ts New Yorkers have a bit of a unique issue because of the differences in needs between the New York City region and Upstate so here is the website for the Empire State Division http://empire.salvationarmy.org/EmpireNY/worship-service-centers In my own personal case I find it a great comfort to know that the Salvation Army is near by. If you are looking for patterns to use for donation please consider http://mariannaslazydaisydays.blogspot.co.uk/ or http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/ There are plenty of patterns offered for free especially for donation. Finding your Salvation Army is easy http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/ or http://www.salvationarmy.org/. It doesn't take much to make someone smile after they've had a disaster of some kind. Your time or donation may make all the difference in the world.
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