Special Projects
In addition to the products we regularly give to agencies, we are often asked to help with annual projects or create a product for the specific need of an agency or for one of its clients. A few of the special projects we have worked on are described below.
2021 Sew-A-Thon
Number of Participants: 54
Volunteer hours worked: 734
Total items completed: 2,882
Projects Made:
| Aprons: | 10 | Lanyards: | 540 |
| Busy Aprons | 7 | Marble Maze: | 154 |
| Door Draft Dodgers: | 11 | Neck Pillow: | 99 |
| Fidget Maze: | 211 | Shirt Protectors: | 46 |
| Masks: | 1,274 | Squiggle Pillows: | 68 |
| Tic Tac Toe bags: | 70 | Utility bags: | 92 |
| Walker bags: | 88 | Blue Star Denim bag | 132 |
2020 Sew-A-Thon Report
Number of participants: 48
Volunteer hours worked: 491
Total items completed: 2867
Projects made:
| Child Face Masks: 292 Blue Star Bags:103 Door Draft Dodgers: 357 Find it Pillows: 470 Marble Maze: 38 Snakes: 70 Weighted Lap Pads: 100 Tic Tac Toe Bags: 36 |
Adult Face Masks: 363 Bag Base Covers: 125 Fidget Maze: 138 Geo Shapes: 425 Puff Balls: 115 Walker Bags: 112 Wheelchair Bags: 69 Bags: 54 |
Annual Projects:
St. Joseph Valley Blue Star Mothers – Indiana #6 – Busy Hands partners with the Blue Star Mothers for two annual projects. We make 1,000 cloth gift bags of Christmas and winter themed fabrics. The Blue Star Mothers fill them with goodies and send them to troops overseas at Christmas. Busy Hands also makes 100 denim bags that the Blue Star Mothers deliver to Walter Reed hospital each spring. The bags are filled with toiletries and helpful items for patients being transferred to rehab facilities.
Veteran’s Day for Nursing Homes, Hospice and VFW Posts- Busy Hands gives away more than 250 red, white and blue lap blankets each year to area veterans.
Dear Helping Hands Volunteers-
Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers that made the beautiful lap blankets for our veterans at The Hearth at Juday Creek in Granger. We have a total of 33 veterans in our Independent Living, Assisted Living and Keepsake Villages Memory Care Communities, and each received one of your generous gifts. You made our celebration so very special, and our veterans are very appreciative of all the work that went into these wonderful blankets!
Your support is truly appreciated!
Deepest regards-
Lucie Horst-Whitlow
Activity Director | The Hearth at Juday Creek
Mother’s Day in Nursing Homes- Busy Hands gives more than 250 shawls and lap blankets to area nursing homes for Mother’s Day.
Michiana Youth Ministries – Busy Hands annually makes 130 white canvas bags. Youth at weekend retreats paint a bag as an art project and a carryall.
First Baptist Church, South Bend – Every year Busy Hands makes 75 bags that the church fills with toiletries and helpful items for students at Hay School at the end of the school year.
Keeler Migrant Head Start – This agency is open in the summer to serve the children of migrant workers. In addition to the Head Start program, they provide infant and toddler daycare and evening adult cooking classes. Busy Hands made cot sheets for the toddler nap-time cots, sleep sacks for infants, tunic aprons for teachers and aides, and dishcloths, pot-holders and aprons for the cooking class participants.
Special Requests
Memorial Children’s Therapy – Busy Hands made three “Rag dolls” for their occupational therapists. Therapists use them to practice physical therapy techniques at continuing education classes.
Reins of Life – We made a set of wrist weights for a child needing help to keep his balance and reduce flailing his arms during therapy horseback riding.
First Steps – A Therapist asked if we made fidget toys and chew necklaces. Busy Hands did research and developed a line of fidget toys and chew necklaces that are in high demand by therapists for both autistic children and dementia and Alzheimer’s patients.
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