National Police Aid Charity – NPAC
Our latest ongoing project includes the NPAC – the National Policy Aid Charity. This charity was nominated by one of our members, Fay.
NPAC started 25yrs ago and they have sent aid in various forms to countries where it has been most needed.
We are going to make :
– 500 single bed size blankets – 6ft x 4ft (24 x 12″ squares)
– Jumpers for children 4yrs – 12yrs in sizes 50 x 26″ chest, 50 x 28″ chest, 50 x 30″ chest and 50 x 32″ chest.
ONLY JUMPERS PLEASE. Round neck / v – neck / long sleeves. Knitted & crocheted (compact pattern for crocheted ones please. )( NO CARDIGANS )( NONE SMALLER THAN 26″ chest by request of the charity please.)
We will be sending them to another charity (“Smalls for All”) that work alongside NPAC – they have agreed to store items in their warehouse & they will be shipped from there to where needed, be that Africa / Zimbabwe/ Eastern Europe. If there is any kind of disaster anywhere in the world items will be diverted to that place.
In return we have also offered to help Smalls for All by sending ladies pants (new) & gently worn or new bras for young girls. Also underwear for children 3yrs – 15yrs. Contact details can be obtained via our Facebook page.
To find out more about NPAC, you can check out their website here
Baby Basics
We are kicking off 2020 with three new projects. The first of them is Baby Basics – Long Eaton.
Baby Basics provide a moses baskets containing items a mum with a new baby may need. Mums are usually referred to Baby Basics by a health care professional.
We have committed to provide 100 small blankets, 100 jumpers and 100 cardigans (to fit babies from 0-3 months). We are able to accept knitted, crochet and sewn items. We are also happy to accept little treats for mum.
By providing the above items, we will be able to “fill” 25 moses baskets and as such support 25 new mums at this critical time.
If you would like to find out more about Baby Basics – Long Eaton you can check out their Facebook group here or go to their website here.
Operation Orphan, Keep a Child Warm
Helping young people in 16 different countries, Operation Orphan needs some help in keeping these kids warm with blankets, hats, scarves, gloves and thin socks.
We will provide 400 pairs of socks, 400 hats, 400 scarves and 400 pairs of gloves (for all we will split them into 200 each for 7yrs to 12 yrs and 12 yrs upwards) to ensure an even spread for every age group. We are also making 400 blankets to a size of 6’x4′. Some of our members will be crocheting 24 x 12″ squares rather than the whole blanket as one big project. Whenever we do something like this, our fab tag team of official “square joiners” will turn all these squares into blankets to the correct size.
Operation Orphan can be found on Facebook here.
Kipbag – A Bag for Life (Homeless Charity)
Kipbags supports homeless people with “A Bag for Life”. These bags contain items of most use for a homeless person and we will be providing 200 hats, 200 scarves, 200 gloves and 200 pairs of socks. We also invite donations of toothbrushes, toothpaste, wipes, plasters or anything else you think a homeless person may need to help them feel a little better.
You can find out more about Kipbag here.
Cotton market bags (ongoing)
A little while ago Sonja got on her soap box about plastic waste and plastic bags in particular. We were promptly contacted by a Food Bank in Colchester who explained that they went through a huge amount of plastic bags each month (they did tell us how many but I can’t even get myself to repeat that number!!). And so we started to make cotton market bags. There are plenty of free knit and crochet patterns available and some of our ladies even sew some of them from up-cycled fabric scraps. We still occasionally send some to the Colchester Food Bank but have started to distribute them more locally to Armley Meeting Point and Armley Helping Hands. This will be an ongoing project so if you have any cotton or fabric sitting around doing nothing, you know what to do!
If you would like to get involved with any of these, please join our Facebook Group – Hookers and Clickers (do it for charity).
