Giving Back

Last weekend was our big clearance sale and we would like to thank everyone that came out and did some shopping. We were able to empty many bolts, in the end we had well over 100 empty ones to throw in the recycling bin. However we still have sale fabric left. Some of you may be wondering what we do with this fabric, does it go back upstairs, will it go on sale again? I can tell you with certainty that it will not go on the shelves upstairs, and the vast majority of it will not be at another sale. 

Almost all of the fabric that is left at the end of Sale Weekend Esther donates to charity. In the past we have given to a variety of groups. We have given to group that makes simple drawstring bags for third world countries. We have given to groups to make quilts for the charity of their choice. 

We have also led charity sews ourselves and donated to hospitals and other missions. 

This fall we have decided to a couple things with what the fabric that is left. 

First of all we will be doing Food Hampers for the Coaldale Food Bank again this year in the store. The organizers of this have suggested that a blanket be placed in each hamper, and so the employees of Chicken Feed will each be making at least one quilt from the sale fabric to go in the hampers that we hope you will help us fill. Throughout the month of November we will have a donation basket set up and for every hamper filled we will put in at least one quilt. We will be accepting non-perishable food items as well as monetary donations for the hampers. 

Esther’s second plan is a pillowcase challenge. Jenn and Michelle spent their days at the store this week cutting and folding 300 pillowcase kits. We would like to get these all sewn by Christmas so that we can donate them to the Pediatric Ward of the Lethbridge Regional hospital. We need your help with this too though, we have the fabric but we do not have the time to make them. During the next two months we will have several sew days at our store dedicated to sewing pillowcases. We would very much appreciate it if you could come in and donate a couple hours of time to sew a few pillowcases for us on one of these days. The fabrics are all chose and cut, we just need you to come in and sew. We would be thrilled you can help us complete all 300!

Any fabric that is left after the Hamper Quilts and the Pillowcase Challenge will be stored in a room for the charity sew events that I mentioned earlier, to make simple quilt kits and to use as backings for these quilts.

I will post all the dates for Pillowcase Sew Days on our website sometime next week, and I will also send out an email with the information at the end of the month, so watch for that. 

Kayla