Squares
Ruth Circle,Methodist Women of Wimberley United Methodist Church, Wimberley,TX 78676 is new to this "square knitting business". We recently mailed 296-8" squares to: Knit-A-Square, Sowet Comfort Club, Bryanston, South Africa. We were quite proud of our 296 squares as most of us (about 10-12) are new to knitting. Your discussion about the number of squares needed in the various areas have humbled us indeed. We will work harder and try to involve more knitters. One of our concerns is the extremely high cost of mailing the squares. The most economical packaging we have found is through the U.S.Post office. We mailed the 296 squares for a cost of $87.50. We have checked through our national offices of our church, with airlines and a few other companies for donations or perhaps less expensive methods to no avail. Any suggestions??? I have almost come to the conclusion that every time I knit a square to just put 50 cents in an envelope and then perhaps there will be enough postage when we have the right amount to mail.
Suzy Cannon
A member of Ruth Circle of Wimberley United Methodist Church, P. O. Box 737, Wimberley,TX 78676
Suzy Cannon
A member of Ruth Circle of Wimberley United Methodist Church, P. O. Box 737, Wimberley,TX 78676
Views: 10
Replies are closed for this discussion.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Helen M. Flagg on -
Hi, Suzy........I lead the Knit-a-Square Circle at Clear Lake Methodist in Houston. I fully understand
your frustration at the high cost of mailing squares from Texas to Soweto. When our circle undertook
the mailings, we went into the community for donations, and also the United Methodist Women's group at our
church took a love offering for postage which gave us several hundred dollars. In addition, I went to the
assistant pastor of our church in charge of global outreach and presented the work of KAS to him and he
made KAS a global outreach ministry, which qualified us to have the church pay a large part of our postage out of the yearly church budget. We supplement that with donations for our monthly mailings.
Have you checked with your church in Wimberly to see if they might help you from the church budget?
That would be one avenue I would suggest to explore. Another avenue would be making presentations
about KAS's work to civic groups, stressing the huge need to warm the children and letting them know
how much your circle needs monetary help for the high cost of postage. I hope these avenues will
help you find some relief in the mailing costs. Blessings to all of you................... -
-
Permalink Reply by Anne Powell on -
Suzy - from now until the end of the year, Planet Purl, will receive and mail squares to South Africa - and it is much cheaper for you to mail them to PP which is in the US than to mail them to South Africa.
I am Canadian so can't take advantage of this - and will have to go to another discussion to get the details - maybe someone who is alrady using Planet Purl will jump in before I find the information. Meanwhile - keep knitting - and thank you for the 296 squares you have already sent - what an awesome group you are!!!! -
-
Permalink Reply by Enid Mary Shaw on
-
BRAVO!!!!! to the Ruth Circle. A marvellous donation indeed.
Suzy, have you considered sending smaller packages? I know the total cost can be more than one large, but isn't so terrifying when done singly. your idea of putting a few pennies away with every square is one I use, and doesn't hurt my purse too much. Especially when more than enough to cover cost at one particular time. :)) did you take photographs of the squares before mailing? Would be lovely to see them.
Oh yes, and welcome to this site, very nice to have you!!!!!
xx -
-
Permalink Reply by Rachel A. on -
There was a little discussion about Planet Purl in the forum here: http://forum.knit-a-square.com/forum/topics/great-ezine-sandy-square-1
Here is the information for sending squares to Planet Purl, which is in Florida!! I was so excited when Sandy sent this information in the last Square Circle email because it will be SOOOO much cheaper to send things to Florida instead of South Africa!
http://www.planetpurl.com/planetpurl/static/showpage.htm?showpage=w...
For every square submitted to Planet Purl by our readers, Planet Purl will make an additional $1 cash donation to the charities, up to $1000. We will also be holding a drawing at the end of the charity drive for participants. Every square you send that meets program guidelines will give you an entry into our prize drawing for $100 at your favorite yarn shop.
Knit up squares following the guidelines for one of the two organizations we are adopting for this charity knitting drive.
Mail your completed squares to:
Planet Purl
ATTN: Warm Hearts Squared
4767 New Broad Street
Orlando, FL 32814
Provide your full name, e-mail address and phone number with your sent squares if you'd like to be entered into the drawing for the raffle at the end of the drive.
Planet Purl will be counting up and delivering the knitted squares to the charities each month.
We'll be sharing the results throughout the year here and in our monthly newsletter.
Happy knitting -
-
Permalink Reply by Helen M. Flagg on
-
Thanks, Rachel, for posting the address here. We just had a meeting of our church circle yesterday.
We have an entire large box full of other knitting which I will post to South Africa, but I have decided to send all the squares in their own box to
Planet Purl from the circle each month for the remainder of the year to cut costs. I certainly should have
thought to mention Planet Purl in my note above, and I am so glad you thought to do it, Anne,
in your response. Thanks so much. -
-
Permalink Reply by P. Jeanne Haessler on -
Also please note, as it is mentioned in the replies to Sandy's post about the number of squares needed, that even if we use a base of only 1,000 KAS contributors (and there's many more than that); dividing the total square numbers by 3 months (June-Aug.) and by 1,000 members brings it down to about 18 squares a month per member. So the numbers posted are very doable. I know, if you're anything like me, I tend to look at my own output and go 50+ thousand-ACK...then I remember how many of us there are here and how clever and industrious and inspired we all are and heave a sigh of relief...."how do you climb a mountain? one step at a time..." How do we meet the squares totals needed? One at a time...and 18-20 a month I can manage and some can manage many more. Do try not to be discouraged Suzy, your group has made a superb contribution and I thank you so VERY much for it! I agree that Planet Purl is the way to go. In Canada we can ship by Sea Mail, small packet...I wince for my neighbors to the south...Planet Purl to the rescue, bless them!
-
-
Permalink Reply by Kalai McDonald on -
Thank you for a wonderful contribution Suzy, excellent!
-
Donations
Or make a one-time donation:
KASBlog - All For Orphans
Introduce knit-a-square to your schools 
Make a difference in an AIDS orphans life! Make a difference in your childrens lives! Start here with this 40 page, beautifully illustrated teacher resource, all for a small donation of $12.95. Click here.
Make a difference in an AIDS orphans life! Make a difference in your childrens lives! Start here with this 40 page, beautifully illustrated teacher resource, all for a small donation of $12.95. Click here.SQUARE SHOP 
You can support our work with the abandoned, vulnerable and orphaned children of South Africa by buying t-shirts, knitting totes, hats and gifts here! Click here.
You can support our work with the abandoned, vulnerable and orphaned children of South Africa by buying t-shirts, knitting totes, hats and gifts here! Click here.
© 2012 Created by Sandy McDonald.
Powered by
