Blessed with Donations!

A load of boxes from one courier arrived on April 4 (yesterday)!

One my Facebook friends, Elzbieta, who I am sure does not read English, has been helpful in getting me some more shirts.

Oh my.

I know what you are thinking. In my defense, I didn’t ask her for them.

She’s one of the volunteers who is sorting donated clothing for the refugees.

She also lives down the street from us.

What a job!

No thanks.

Some people have given things like dressy formal items - including an evening gown! Also, sometimes things really just need to go into scraps or become rags and not donated. But sometimes, donations are good but just not what people are looking for.

And that is how it is with men’s dress shirts. Some people are donating perfectly good dress shirts - or men’s flannel shirts. The biggest problem is, there are almost no men coming into Poland from Ukraine.

Sweetness and Light - a free pattern here. I made this for our Christmas “Gwiazdobranie i Dawanie” which is an effort to raise money for therapy for sick children in our town.

They don’t know what to do with them. Ela had given me some shirts before and I made one of my upcycled quilts from them - here. I showed it to her and she liked it. (These were from her own shirts.)

Second bag I got after the blouses made of polyester or rayon were taken out.

First bag I got about three weeks ago

So, she told me to take these and make something nice from them. (Well, she didn’t say it quite that way - though it was close.) This is actually the second bag she has given me. The first bag is here by my computer - hardly opened. I got it shortly before company arrived about three weeks ago.

The sorters need the space for ladies’ or children’s clothes and not men’s.

Inside this bag were also some dressy ladies’ blouses. I took them out and will re-donate them elsewhere.

So, who am I to turn down an offer of shirts?

That’s difficult to do for me. Anymore, if I don’t need them, I’ll go ahead and take the gift, and then I’ll pass extra off to Ewa, who will use whatever she can. She is trying to keep her mom busy so she spends a bit of time cutting and chopping!

Earlier in the week I had been given a whole bag of fabric (a contact through the Noble Packages outreach we’ve been doing for the last two years).

Before I even had a chance to look inside the bag (or take a photo) Ewa and her husband, Robert, came by to give me some quilted charity quilts, and I just gave her the whole bundle of fabrics. I know she wants to use them for more charity quilts. So, I told her I hadn’t even looked at them yet - but I was swamped. She took the huge bundle gladly and I am sure that we will be seeing these fabrics come through as finished tops before too long.

The first bag I received is the blue one - the second one is the brown-ish one.

I knew when I was getting ready for company I just had to move them out of the main floor “out of the way”. So, I moved them up here to our bedroom. As life and this effort settles into more of a marathon than a sprint, I hopefully will be able to get back into a semblance of some sort of order and routine.

First bag up close. I’ve not taken them out to look at up close. Yet. Looks intriguing.

Both bags of shirts are pretty good sized!

 

I did take the time to look at all my goodies in this second bag. I’m excited about these! There are some nice plaids and a several good blue and other colors (!) dress shirts.

Here is what I’m going to keep from the second bag. I think that is about 37 shirts. They aren’t all large and some are ladies’ blouses - so not all have a lot of fabric is available in them - but I can use them anyway.

In a situation like this with these donated shirts, I will use them if I like them - even if the fabric isn’t entirely to my liking or first preference. I’ll consider it a challenge to make something “nice” with them. As I go about my tasks this week, I’ll let my brain start percolating.

This bag makes me feel special. It is difficult to express - but in a little way like this, It feels like Elzbieta was looking out for me - for my desires - and likes - even in the midst of all the needs around me and her.

It feels like it was a gift straight from God to me - using her - as she sorts, and her knowledge of what I’ve made with upcycleds here in Jozefow. I feel very blessed! Indeed.

And a bonus - having the peaceful, quiet time to just sit down and pull them out of the bag, sort, and put them on the table for a photo - it was exquisite!

Thanks for coming along with me on this journey!

Becky Petersen3 Comments