Crafting for charity requires a lot of materials.  Crafters need to save money, just like everyone else, and when projects are made with a routine, the crafter usually knows what he or she needs “on hand,” to use for the particular items created.  Knitters and crocheters need yarn, quilters need fabric, sewers need thread, and so on.  Those are the kinds of needs that never change.

ThreadArt is an online resource that advertises retail items at wholesale prices.  I was impressed with the variety of products and the prices.  They have an easy to use shopping cart Web site, but you may also order a catalog and order that way if you prefer.  They accept major credit cards, but for the Internet shopper, it is pleasant to discover they also accept PayPal. 

Their online ordering is secure, and their return policy is liberal.  If you craft for charities, check ThreadArt out - it will be a great source for your supplies.

ThreadArt 

Many people craft for charity.  It isn’t just women.  But think of men and knitting in the same sentence, and most people can’t get the two words together.  But that is an old wive’s tale.  Men knit and they knit well. 

This knitting store in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has found that men make excellent knitters - and we all know that excellent knitters make excellent items for others as a way to reach out!

Knitting Store Keeps Idle Hands Out Of Trouble

If you knit, crochet, or sew, and have a heart for high-risk babies and their parents, Care Wear is a charity for you. Care Wear is one of the oldest charity organizations providing handcrafted items for premature and high-risk babies having operated for 15 years.

At this time, they serve as an information source advising volunteers to contact local hospitals on donation of blankets, preemie gowns, teddy bears and other downsized items. Joining is free; they have no dues, no rules and only ask for your help.

Patterns are provided free of charge on the Web site and suggestions are given freely. This is a wonderful chance for the crafter to use creativity, holiday ideas, leftover yarns and fabrics, and experiment. It certainly will be appreciated by the recipient and the crafter will experience the satisfaction that only giving can bring.

Care Wear

People want to help - as a rule anyway.  Crafters have found a unique way to help others in need by using their talents and skills in their crafting to reach out to others.  I hesitate to use the word charity - no one wants to receive charity, but everyone wants to give charity.  It is a difficult word and a difficult situation.

I found a site today that isn’t about making crafts at all.  But reading this site will help you understand the plight of one group of people that crafters do reach out to:  The chronically ill.  Particularly chronically ill kids.

This would be a great site to let the volunteers in your organization know about.  When your crafters begin to burn-out, and they will since it is human nature, direct them to this Web site.  It will remind them why they are doing what they are doing, and give them the motivation to go on.

From the site - Comments of Chronically Ill Kids Wish That:

• People “knew” what it’s like to be them, “we’re often afraid to tell others about our medical problems. What if they got scared and then left us out of things?”
• They didn’t have to miss out….”other kids get to play while we have to do medicine type things.”
• They could feel important for something besides illness. 

Bandaids & Blackboards