Many thanks to all who attended and turned in completed items. I did find out who created those beautiful knitted tops-Kay Rapp. She used pattern McCall’s 7114 and it comes in both regular and half sizes. Kay made these tops as size 14 1/2 and perfect for the older/larger girls. Thanks Kay!

A reminder regarding our reference library, please use and check out books, there is no limit on how long you keep the book however when you return or remove books from the library, please re-file them according to the number assigned to book.

Our appreciation luncheon from BHHS Legacy is scheduled for January 13 at Beatitudes Campus at 1610 W. Glendale Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85021 starting at 11:00. They have great restaurants on site and a large event room. We are working on the menu, however you can email me anytime that you are planning to attend. I do not have a deadline for signing up at this time.

Our newsletter was sent out to everyone last week. If you find any errors or have something for me to add next year, please email me!

Size tags; please put your size tags under the left arm. If you have a giving love to a purchased t-shirt or sew garment size tags to the back neck line, you don’t need a size tag. Having the tags under the left arm makes it so much easier to put items on the clothing racks for distribution next year. Makes us look much more professional!

Pompoms on hats-yes or no? They seem to be gaining in popularity and it is your call if you wish to make them. Personally, I do not like making them so they won’t be on the hats coming from my house! Cindy will show us some quick, easy ways to make pompoms at our November Open House.

I encouraged everyone to write a positive note to add to our Jar of Sunshine for OCJ Kids. These notes can be motivational or inspirational. If you would like to email me a thought, I will transfer it to a note card for you. These jars are given to a group home to give the leaders a lift when they need it.

Thanks to everyone who donated an ornament to our Christmas tree for Family Promise! Thanks also to those who stayed afterwards and made ornaments. Deadline for ornaments is Open House November 11. Jerry Wissink will be at our office on Thursday, November 16 at 1:00 to see the tree donated to Family Promise in his honor. Representatives from Family Promise will be there to receive the tree. If you can, please attend to enjoy in this wonderful event. It is also our Thursday Terror sewing day, and we would love it if you could join us. We start sewing at 9:30.

Did you know that when using your Fry’s card a small donation can be made to Back to School Clothing Drive? It can be challenging to link BTSCD to your card (or at least I found it to be) so this is how I did it:

You need to establish an account with Fry’s and link your shopping card. Since I already had this done, I am not sure how to direct you but I am sure if you sign on the Fry’s website or app you will see instructions to create an account.

Using the menu, select 1-2-3 REWARDS Visa Card (you will not be applying for the credit card!), scroll down to the bottom and select Community, then select Fry’s Community Rewards. Scroll to the bottom and select Enroll Now. It also gives you an opportunity to create your VIP online account-you will need your card number and think of a password.

Sign in with your password

Enter BAC, select Search

Back to School Clothing Drive with our address appears at the top of my search, if not scroll down to locate the charity

Click on the dot and select Enroll at the bottom

That’s it! If there is another way to enroll without going into the 1-2-3 REWARDS Visa Card, I could never figure it out. If you need help, please bring your Fry’s card, log in and password to the November Open House and we will help you. This is FREE money to us at no cost to you.

Many thanks to Shirley Halsey for her $600 donation from her Retirement Telephone Operator group. She gave us a $500 donation last June. Great job!!

An uncomfortable topic to address – cigarette smoke and other strong odors. We had some yarn accessories turned in this month that had a smoke smell. Please make sure your items are odor free as we store these items in sealed boxes and the odors get ‘trapped’ and left to sit in the boxes for months. We have children and volunteers at distribution who are sensitive to smoke. We have sprayed the items with Fabreze in hopes of eliminating the odor.

Our next Open House will be November 11 which is Veterans Day and Phoenix will be having a parade. The parade starts at 11:00 at Montebello and Central (North Baptist Church) and will go south to Camelback and east to 7th Street and south to Indian School. The parade is scheduled to be over about 1:00. Street closures will begin at 7:30, so you will need to arrive and exit the BTSCD office via the south-McDowell Road but I fairly sure the traffic will be heavy.

Getting back to Open House, we will be showing and discussing giving ‘love’ to our t-shirts. Our goal is to change a t-shirt to a really cool top, making others say “that was a t-shirt?”! I will have a handout and bring your sewing machine so you can practice and see exactly what we are wanting done to the t-shirts.

Attached is a quarterly calendar of our events. I hope you are able to attend some of these events. I have noted the address and a contact if you have any questions. I will send out another calendar in December for January-March events.

Thanks for all you do for our kids!

Sandy