I’m preparing for another trip to New Orleans in 1 1/2 short weeks (taking over 70 machines!) and looking over the costs of these trips. So many people have asked how they can help with this project and this is where you can really make a difference! It’s easy to make a donation via this site, just click on the Donate Now link and it’ll guide you right through. We need donations, large or small, to help cover the costs of these trips. Your money will pay for the truck and fuel to get the machines there. This is a very grassroots effort, as you can tell, and every penny counts!
Additionally, I’m searching for any trucking firms who might be willing to donate their services to transport these machines. Perhaps a trucker who is hauling a load up to the Midwest and is returning to the Gulf Coast region with an empty vehicle? Or even a trucking firm who has a little space left in a vehicle heading south. Or perhaps, a truck rental company, such as Ryder or Budget who might be willing to donate the use of a truck. At this point I drive the machines down myself and that works fine…it’s just the cost of the truck that is quite daunting!
So be a hero! Help out! If you are inspired by this project, please consider making a donation and helping with immediate needs, such as the April trip to New Orleans, and future needs as well.
Thank you so much!
Yesterday, at Grace Episcopal Church in New Orleans, I was blessed by an angel named Margaret. I gave her a hug, and thanked her then, but I think a more public ‘thank you’ is necessary.
She returned to N.O. with sewing machines to give away, and I took home a beautiful one that I would have never been able to afford to buy. After all the time that had passed I was SHOCKED to get a call from her. I had forgotten and never thought she would come back AGAIN with more machines!
Katrina changed the lives of everyone here. I evacuated to Alabama with my sister, a 5 year old , a new puppy and my 86 year old father who had Alzheimers and was being tube fed. A month later we returned to a different life, and the tragedy continued with the death of my father only weeks later.
Getting back to ‘normal’ has been slow- but sewing is one of the things that make me happy. I sew for my whole family, friends, neighbors and school plays, etc. I’ve been getting by with an old,patched together, machine that made sewing a chore instead of a joy. Now with this incredibly nice machine(electronic/fancy stitches!) I’m going to enjoy creating things for myself and others! I love making childrens clothing, christening dresses, etc as well as costumes and household sewing.
Thanks to you, Margaret( and all helping you) ! I thank God for your hard work and generosity of spirit. You’ve changed more lives than you will ever know, and you are truly doing an angel’s work. Every time I sew I’ll think of you. May God Bless you all!
I live in New Orleans, Louisiana and I read about this grass root effort as I scanned the daily newspapers on Thursday morning. I thought for one moment that I was dreaming. Since, the storms in the Gulf Coast region great news like this is few and far in between. I am a author/activist/artist/inventor many for my talents, abilities, gifts, and skills were deminished after the storms, stopped writing, which is truly a passion, stopped painting another passion. I was too hard to start over again. As Faith would have it; I met someone by telephone accidentally on purpose, and that person turned out to be a master seamstress in October of 2007. She taught me how to sew on paper within one hour. I thought that it was a joke. A short time later, I decided to purchase a sewing machine. I never stopped sewing. I even created a, I quote: February issue featured in The time Picayune as a high end alternative mardi gras throw. Zulu mardi gras social and pleasure club marketed them in the 2008 mardi gras parades. Sold at the Freret Street flea market. In one moment, my sewing enthusic was not just a hobby. But, a small local business. I am in the throws of writing a book, which should release in October of 2008. I am including a contest of my sewing project with community involvement. As a result, I have invited this angel on a mission back to our city to donate sewing machine, for the fall book release. Simply stated; as long as I have my sewing machine that the wrath of storms can’t stop me because; I can support myself with the use of my sewing machine, which is a liberation in and of itself!!! Thank you