AFGHANS FOR ANGELS, California Chapter

WHO WE ARE:

Afghans for Angels is an organization made up completely of volunteers who make and distribute baby blankets to California hospitals (and others under special circumstances) to give to parents who have suffered the loss of their infant through miscarriage, still birth or infant death.

WHY WE DO THIS:

The death of a child, whether by miscarriage or later on, is a totally devastating event in a parent's life. While this is sometimes a very difficult subject to speak of, it does happen nonetheless. Our "Afghans for Angels" are placed lovingly around these infant angels when they are held by their families for the brief time in which bittersweet hellos and sad good-byes are said. The parents are then allowed to keep these afghans as a token of remembrance of their baby. We want to acknowledge that these parents did have a baby. Though their child did not live long, we do not want to diminish the fact that they were and will continue to be the parents of this child.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

The California Chapter of Afghans for Angels became active in April of 2010. We are looking for volunteers to help create these afghan gifts. If you can knit, crochet, or quilt, we would love to have your help. Donations of soft yarn in baby colors would also be appreciated . Each afghan donated will be tagged with two cards held on with ribbon. One card is for the family, and one is geared toward the hospital staff.

Here are a few suggestions:

Most of all, we need your help to get the word out. The more volunteers we have, the more hospitals (and families) can benefit from our services.

Should you need a little help to get started, www.lionbrandyarn.com has a wonderful section for free crochet and knit patterns specifically for babies. Another web site, www.crochetkim.com, also has some nice patterns that are free. I have located some free preemie patterns as well at www.crochetpatterncentral.com.

I would like to thank you for helping us to make just a tiny difference at a very sad time for these families. Just the knowledge that someone cared enough to create a special gift for their child is certain to provide a measure of comfort.

Should you be interested, I have created a Yahoo group just for Afghans for Angels, California Chapter . This will be a place where volunteers can share stories, pattern ideas, information on good yarn sales, pictures of our completed afghans, etc. We will also keep a tally of how many afghans have been donated and to what hospitals. If you would like to join, just go to the Yahoo web site and under "Find a Group" type in afghansforangelscalifornia. This will take you to the site listing, where you can then click on the name of our group and join. All volunteers, whether donating yarn and other supplies or afghans, are welcome to join this group.

Angel afghans and/or donations of yarn may be mailed to the address below. We have now had over 600 afghans donated by many volunteers. While this may seem like a lot, we can NEVER have too many. We now have thirteen hospitals throughout California receiving afghans from us, Marshall Hospital in Placerville, Sonora Regional Medical Center, Woodland Memorial Hospital, Huntington in Pasadena, White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles, Feather River Hospital in Paradise, Simi Valley Hospital, Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, Mercy Medical Center in Redding, Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe, Montclair Community Hospital, and Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo. We continually seek out new hospitals wishing to receive our afghans. Remember, we can never have too many volunteers or too many afghans, so please don't hesitate to join us.


Should you have questions, please feel free to contact me at any time.

Linda Meadows, Coordinator
(530) 417-2112
P.O. Box 1085
Sutter Creek, CA 95685
Email: ctryb37735@aol.com