if you knit or sew or crochet

or do something similar why don't you think about volunteering to donate one or some of your handmade items to a worthy cause. there are a TON of them and i'll try to list one or two from time to time. i personally found the NEXT organization i'll be making hats for (watch for pictures of the hats i knit for my department. they've not gotten them yet. they're all done BUT i still need to EMBELLISH some of them). i've knit caps for preemies (takes NO time at all). you can contact your local hospital if you'd like to do that. they'll give you guidelines and where and when you can donate.

i found the rad bad beanie project

..........We are collecting totally rad handmade hats for urban teens!Beanies go to Big City Mountaineers, a non-profit whose mission is to provide urban teens in need of positive adult mentoring with challenging and safe wilderness experiences.We've donated 112 handmade beanies anda pair of mittens—but there are 250 hikers each year!Will you help? •Join our dedicated knitting, crochet + stitching volunteers from:Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Florida, Hawaii, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Vermont!.......

so i'll be getting in touch with them in the near future.

i also saw this inspiring story in the washington post yesterday (of course it was a SAD story too. no 20 year old kid should have his legs blown off)

With Gratitude In Every Stitch At Walter Reed, Wounded Troops Find Comfort in Donated Quilts
By Jura Koncius Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, January 31, 2007; Page B01
The carefully packed boxes stack up daily in the chaplain's quarters at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, about 50 a week. The instructions read simply: "Please give this to a soldier." Chaplain John L. Kallerson, an Army major, gently opens each one and places the contents around his windowless office. Then he lays his big hands on the piles and says a blessing. His is the ministry of the quilts. A phone call to the chaplain four years ago has created a national movement to say thank you to soldiers wounded in the war on terror. More than 7,900 "comfort quilts," each carefully stitched with love and gratitude, have been sent through the Quilts of Valor Foundation to the wounded soldiers at Walter Reed and 70 other U.S. military medical centers. Kallerson prays over and hands out quilts from church groups, schoolchildren, quilting bees. Quilts made from accomplished artists whose designs sell for thousands. Quilts with bears, fish, basketballs. Quilts with hot-pink flowers for wounded women............

Tech Tags: volunteer+quilting volunteer+knitting volunteer+crocheting