We all have families in our communities who have undergone a fire, a flood or other serious incident that has left someone with little or nothing. During the Katrina aftermath, the school I worked at in Texas had quite a few refugee families move in. There were clothing drives, food drives, etc. to help them out.
People often donate used clothing for these kind of events, but sometimes that clothing isn't exactly perfect. This happened to my family when I was a teen. Some of the clothing needed buttons or simple mending, but we didn't even have a needle and thread.
For our Katrina refugees, I made up a simple sewing kit for each family. It included a small assortment of buttons, needles, thread, some straight pins and scissors. It doesn't sound like much, but it's really appreciated and a fairly inexpensive way to help.
By Dianne from Wilsonville, OR
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What a really nice idea. So nice of you to be thoughtful, caring, wise, and giving. I love this tip you have submitted.
I'll do this always now. We have a free clothing center (in the 60s we called it a free/box but there are more people now. I have a lot of buttons and stuff and will make up some for those who need.
We were out of our home for three weeks after Katrina. We live in a suburb of New Orleans and while our neighborhood wasn't flooded, we couldn't return until the parish reopened. The people of New Orleans and the surrounding parishes still talk with gratitude about the hospitality and generosity we all experienced.
Thank you all for responding. As I said, my hint came from experience, so I know this is a really usable item for needy families. Give a hungry man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him to fish and feed him for a lifetime. We were very poor when I grew up, so I like to help however I can on my limited budget. Dianne
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