"When you wrap a child in a blanket, it's like you are giving them a HUG!"
"When you wrap a child in a blanket, it's like you are giving them a HUG!"
Every child deserves to have their very own special blanket ...
Shirley J. King
8652 Elk Way
Elk Grove, CA 95624
phone: (916) 685-9660
8652 Elk Way
Elk Grove, CA 95624
phone: (916) 685-9660
August 22, 2011
VOLUME 7 - NO. 2 GRAMMA'S HUGS
Hello, everyone…already August and so much left to do this year!!!
Since the last newsletter we have been involved in many things…but I wanted to let you know that we have had wonderful visits with many of our missionary outlets. This has been marvelous!!! (I said wonderful already, right?) teehee.
The last of our 30 boxes headed for Japan have arrived and been distributed. The Huddlestons (Jennifer & Chad & 5 children) are serving in Osaka, Japan. Through their efforts and the people of Japan, many convoys and vans full of supplies and workers have gone the 12 hour journey from Osaka to the tsunami area(s). A dojo in that area has been very helpful in letting them park their vehicles, sleep, organize their efforts of all kinds, and use their facilities as a headquarters of sorts. This has been a wonderful co-effort on the part of the local people as well as the missionaries. (Pictures below)…
The Huddlestons came to the States for a month (Jennifer & children) – Chad joined them for two weeks the end of July. (Jennifer’s parents had a 50th wedding anniversary). They were to have been on furlough the whole year of 2011, but the tsunami “happened” and changed all that. They are a lovely couple…we had coffee at my house with Linda Wick and Frances Gomes for a little missionary pow-wow. I sent them off with some small items for their children.
Before that, we had visited with Katie Stanley, a young woman who has dedicated the last 6 years of her life working with the deaf school near Ensenada, Mexico. She is a girls dorm mother and a teacher aid. She also helps with worship and general running of the school. Mexico has now established its own form of signing, so Katie now knows two signing languages (teehee)…
I have been corresponding with the Robinettes , Jim & Kappy, since they arrived stateside earlier this year. (They are the couple in Kampala, Uganda, that we sent the 4,000 belongings bags {and other things}to last year). I was so excited to hear they would be in California for a few weeks, and asked them to visit us. We were able to arrange for them to visit the Encouragers Class at Calvary Bible Church in Lodi, California, (where they attended some years ago before going to Africa), and then they visited SJK at her home in Elk Grove, CA, and toured “the factory”; took some 400 bags; some washcloths; some book bags (from fabric samples that Lois Anderson makes for us) and a bag of mini-beanie babies in sleeping bags…some extra dollars they received they allocated to pay extra freight going back to Africa in order to save us the postage and handling. Thank you!!!
Also, the couple who started El Shaddai Orphanage in Sierra Leone, were here visiting the director’s sister (who lives in Sacramento). Along with Linda and Peter Wick, we had dinner and visited about the orphanage. Dorothea & Garnet Thomas are a delightful couple and love the children so much. As you will remember, we supplied them with 2 blankets each, pillows and belongings bags for the orphanage when it opened. We have since sent additional blankets, washcloths and toiletries. They have a domestic agent and everything goes by container from central US.
One of our present projects is the making of 500 twin-sized blankets for the Rift Valley Academy students in Kijabe, Kenya. This is a boarding school for the children of missionaries on the field in various places on the continent of Africa, and they live there for the entire school year. Missionary children sacrifice a great deal, I think, in giving up family life and living in a foreign country on a foreign continent with total strangers and going to school – K-12 – in this artificial setup. So, we thought maybe this would be something special for them. We have tried to get a wide variety of prints and plain colors in fleece and, once serged, are folded and put into a print cotton belongings bag. LeAnn and Tim Hall are not only the principal and have a household on campus, but have 8 children living with them besides. We have known them for years and are happy to be doing this for them. All of their children are grown and living stateside. One just got married the week they left to go back to Kenya. We are trying to find a way of shipping them, as AIM (Africa Inland Mission) no longer has funds and facilities in place to ship goods.. Your founder/director has made contact in New Orleans with some Mission Expediters. We will let you know how it comes out. (note: it dawned on me, that the 11 years I spent aboard ocean-going ships, that I should be able to find people to do this for us reasonably…using my experience – yet again.)…
!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Special news. Your founder/director, Shirley J. King, graduated from the University of Pacific in Stockton, California in 1960. She was nominated for a special Distinguished Alumni Award for 2011. 5 of these awards are given every year, and she is to be the recipient of one this year for her volunteer/community work with Gramma’s Hugs International. SJK is in contact with the Alumni Association in preparing the variety of activities and events surrounding this, and the final evening will be November 5, 2011, on the University Campus in Stockton, California. If you are interested in attending this event, we would be happy to send you the materials. Please notify me: Shirley J. King, 8652 Elk Way, Elk Grove, CA 95624, and I will see to it you are put on the invitation list. It would be lovely if some of you could be there!!! Or email me…
**************************************************************************************
On the domestic front, we are still giving to the Elk Grove Food Bank; St. John’s Women’s Shelter;> NEW program providing blankets and small animals in bags for the Elk Grove Police Department to give children in domestic situations where they are put into foster care, and NEW bags of items to the Marine Families of Elk Grove for the troops in Afghanistan. We will be giving additional items for local families for Christmas very soon. Biloxi, MS, will also be receiving several boxes of items to give the children that come into the clinics in their area. Another one-time-only gift has already been given to a fine Nigerian couple who are going on a mission trip to Nigeria this Fall. Various fabrics, threads, a sewing machine, wash cloths and a sack of miscellaneous little animals, among other things, were given them to take.
Ronald McDonald House continues to be a great partner in various things. Handmade quilts and wash cloths and belongings bags are among the items we contribute to them on a regular basis. The house manager, Lois Polaschek, has arranged for us to have workdays, and also to complete projects for us (like stringing bags that the “Hugs Helpers” make, and so on).
On another note – my larger serger “died”…is unrepairable. I gave it to the machine shop to use for extra parts. I am using the small craft serger that a Hugs Helper gave me a couple of years ago. That is a very definite need right now. Besides monetary contributions being next to zero these days, buying materials is always my first priority, and that doesn’t include large purchases such as a serger!!! Join with me in finding way(s) to get a new machine, please. This is paramount to continuing our project(s).
Our wonderful Hugs Helpers are still working indefatigably, and we appreciate them so much. Our work day here at the “factory” in June was very productive, and we have added, for this Christmas, a new little “Hug Buddy” that was the creation of a young girl, that Linda Wick adapted for us. It is a small pillow made to look like a doll. No arms or legs, but a face (embroidered/buttons, etc.) and “hair” either rickrack/ribbon/yarn; out of print or plain fabric. Each one will then be stitched up, filled, and the bottom stitched – to make a cute little “companion”.
Donations can always be sent to 8652 Elk Way, Elk Grove, CA 95624.
Until next time, I remain – with Hugs,
Shirley “Gramma” J. King…{oh yes, August 5th my 8th great-grandchild was born!!!. I now have 3 girls; 5 boys; another boy expected next month; and another baby (we don’t know sex yet) end of January 2012.}
VOLUME 7 - NO. 2 GRAMMA'S HUGS
Hello, everyone…already August and so much left to do this year!!!
Since the last newsletter we have been involved in many things…but I wanted to let you know that we have had wonderful visits with many of our missionary outlets. This has been marvelous!!! (I said wonderful already, right?) teehee.
The last of our 30 boxes headed for Japan have arrived and been distributed. The Huddlestons (Jennifer & Chad & 5 children) are serving in Osaka, Japan. Through their efforts and the people of Japan, many convoys and vans full of supplies and workers have gone the 12 hour journey from Osaka to the tsunami area(s). A dojo in that area has been very helpful in letting them park their vehicles, sleep, organize their efforts of all kinds, and use their facilities as a headquarters of sorts. This has been a wonderful co-effort on the part of the local people as well as the missionaries. (Pictures below)…
The Huddlestons came to the States for a month (Jennifer & children) – Chad joined them for two weeks the end of July. (Jennifer’s parents had a 50th wedding anniversary). They were to have been on furlough the whole year of 2011, but the tsunami “happened” and changed all that. They are a lovely couple…we had coffee at my house with Linda Wick and Frances Gomes for a little missionary pow-wow. I sent them off with some small items for their children.
Before that, we had visited with Katie Stanley, a young woman who has dedicated the last 6 years of her life working with the deaf school near Ensenada, Mexico. She is a girls dorm mother and a teacher aid. She also helps with worship and general running of the school. Mexico has now established its own form of signing, so Katie now knows two signing languages (teehee)…
I have been corresponding with the Robinettes , Jim & Kappy, since they arrived stateside earlier this year. (They are the couple in Kampala, Uganda, that we sent the 4,000 belongings bags {and other things}to last year). I was so excited to hear they would be in California for a few weeks, and asked them to visit us. We were able to arrange for them to visit the Encouragers Class at Calvary Bible Church in Lodi, California, (where they attended some years ago before going to Africa), and then they visited SJK at her home in Elk Grove, CA, and toured “the factory”; took some 400 bags; some washcloths; some book bags (from fabric samples that Lois Anderson makes for us) and a bag of mini-beanie babies in sleeping bags…some extra dollars they received they allocated to pay extra freight going back to Africa in order to save us the postage and handling. Thank you!!!
Also, the couple who started El Shaddai Orphanage in Sierra Leone, were here visiting the director’s sister (who lives in Sacramento). Along with Linda and Peter Wick, we had dinner and visited about the orphanage. Dorothea & Garnet Thomas are a delightful couple and love the children so much. As you will remember, we supplied them with 2 blankets each, pillows and belongings bags for the orphanage when it opened. We have since sent additional blankets, washcloths and toiletries. They have a domestic agent and everything goes by container from central US.
One of our present projects is the making of 500 twin-sized blankets for the Rift Valley Academy students in Kijabe, Kenya. This is a boarding school for the children of missionaries on the field in various places on the continent of Africa, and they live there for the entire school year. Missionary children sacrifice a great deal, I think, in giving up family life and living in a foreign country on a foreign continent with total strangers and going to school – K-12 – in this artificial setup. So, we thought maybe this would be something special for them. We have tried to get a wide variety of prints and plain colors in fleece and, once serged, are folded and put into a print cotton belongings bag. LeAnn and Tim Hall are not only the principal and have a household on campus, but have 8 children living with them besides. We have known them for years and are happy to be doing this for them. All of their children are grown and living stateside. One just got married the week they left to go back to Kenya. We are trying to find a way of shipping them, as AIM (Africa Inland Mission) no longer has funds and facilities in place to ship goods.. Your founder/director has made contact in New Orleans with some Mission Expediters. We will let you know how it comes out. (note: it dawned on me, that the 11 years I spent aboard ocean-going ships, that I should be able to find people to do this for us reasonably…using my experience – yet again.)…
!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Special news. Your founder/director, Shirley J. King, graduated from the University of Pacific in Stockton, California in 1960. She was nominated for a special Distinguished Alumni Award for 2011. 5 of these awards are given every year, and she is to be the recipient of one this year for her volunteer/community work with Gramma’s Hugs International. SJK is in contact with the Alumni Association in preparing the variety of activities and events surrounding this, and the final evening will be November 5, 2011, on the University Campus in Stockton, California. If you are interested in attending this event, we would be happy to send you the materials. Please notify me: Shirley J. King, 8652 Elk Way, Elk Grove, CA 95624, and I will see to it you are put on the invitation list. It would be lovely if some of you could be there!!! Or email me…
**************************************************************************************
On the domestic front, we are still giving to the Elk Grove Food Bank; St. John’s Women’s Shelter;> NEW program providing blankets and small animals in bags for the Elk Grove Police Department to give children in domestic situations where they are put into foster care, and NEW bags of items to the Marine Families of Elk Grove for the troops in Afghanistan. We will be giving additional items for local families for Christmas very soon. Biloxi, MS, will also be receiving several boxes of items to give the children that come into the clinics in their area. Another one-time-only gift has already been given to a fine Nigerian couple who are going on a mission trip to Nigeria this Fall. Various fabrics, threads, a sewing machine, wash cloths and a sack of miscellaneous little animals, among other things, were given them to take.
Ronald McDonald House continues to be a great partner in various things. Handmade quilts and wash cloths and belongings bags are among the items we contribute to them on a regular basis. The house manager, Lois Polaschek, has arranged for us to have workdays, and also to complete projects for us (like stringing bags that the “Hugs Helpers” make, and so on).
On another note – my larger serger “died”…is unrepairable. I gave it to the machine shop to use for extra parts. I am using the small craft serger that a Hugs Helper gave me a couple of years ago. That is a very definite need right now. Besides monetary contributions being next to zero these days, buying materials is always my first priority, and that doesn’t include large purchases such as a serger!!! Join with me in finding way(s) to get a new machine, please. This is paramount to continuing our project(s).
Our wonderful Hugs Helpers are still working indefatigably, and we appreciate them so much. Our work day here at the “factory” in June was very productive, and we have added, for this Christmas, a new little “Hug Buddy” that was the creation of a young girl, that Linda Wick adapted for us. It is a small pillow made to look like a doll. No arms or legs, but a face (embroidered/buttons, etc.) and “hair” either rickrack/ribbon/yarn; out of print or plain fabric. Each one will then be stitched up, filled, and the bottom stitched – to make a cute little “companion”.
Donations can always be sent to 8652 Elk Way, Elk Grove, CA 95624.
Until next time, I remain – with Hugs,
Shirley “Gramma” J. King…{oh yes, August 5th my 8th great-grandchild was born!!!. I now have 3 girls; 5 boys; another boy expected next month; and another baby (we don’t know sex yet) end of January 2012.}