Helping Others Using Your Creative Skills

Written by Mary Nelson Zadrozny
© 2004-2017 Just Imagine Design & Publications

So far I have yet to meet a creative person who didn't have a big heart too. There are many ways to help others with your talents and so often these things don't take much time. The following list of organizations can use a HUGE variety of handmade items (knit, crochet, quilt, sew, etc.) that will offer comfort to babies, children, men, women, and animals in need. Plus you probably already have all or most of the supplies in your stash already. Nearly all of these projects have no specific deadline, just on-going requests for donations. There are a couple of organizations listed below that need artwork to raise funds for their cause.

Don't have time but still want to help out? Many can use donations of supplies; your extra fabric, yarn, etc. Don't forget your local animal shelters and zoo; many of them have a continual need for soft blankets for the animals, cage covers, and other items. Before throwing out old blankets, sheets, and towels, check with them.

Carefully review the specific guidelines for a project before starting. Many of these sites have pattern instructions. Completing a project they can really use is the best way for you to help out. Visit Handcrafting With Love which has some excellent tips when making items for charity.

		Also you may want to check out some of these books featuring ideas & projects for those who need a helping hand.
Organizations that need your special skills for a variety of causes: http://addiandcassi.com/curecaps/ Addi & Cassi Fund - CureCaps; Raising money with handmade hats to help fight deadly neurological diseases. http://americanheroquilts.com/ American Hero Quilts; quilts made for wounded soldiers. http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/knit4charities/ Knit 4 Charities (Knit and Crochet) (Australia). http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/knittingforbrisbanesneedy/ Knitting for Brisbane's Needy (Australia). http://babiesinneed.org/index.html Babies in Need serves needy newborns and their families in Southwest Washington. http://bellabambinaknits.blogspot.com/ Bella Bambina Knits; Knitting and Crocheting for Babies in Long Island, NY. http://betterwords.typepad.com/petpostcardproject/ The Pet Postcard Project to raise money for animal shelters. http://bundlesoflove.org/ Non-profit organization in Minnesota that sews, knits and crochets essential clothing and blankets for infants in need and teaches expectant mothers to sew. http://crafthopetogether.com/ Craft Hope; a faith-based, love inspired project designed to share handmade crafts with those less fortunate. http://danettesangels.tripod.com/join.html God's Tiny Angels; providing handcrafted baby items to preemie babies and others in need. http://freedomquilts.net/ Freedom Quilts distributes quilts to honor soldiers who have lost their lives fighting terrorism. http://givetoothers.com/ Give to Others is a web site for Central New Yorkers to bring together those in need with those who want to give. If you have fabric or other supplies to donate, or handmade items you can post them on this site and find those who can use them. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Online-Angels/ Online Angels creates 6" and 12" knitted or crocheted squares for "love-ghans" lap robes for those in need. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sunshine/ Sunshine Quilter's Online Guild makes quilts for Wrap a Smile and Wrap Them In Love programs. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SweetDreamBlankies/ Sweet Dream Blankies makes knitted, crocheted or quilted blankets for children in the foster care system. http://haitipeacequilts.org/ Haiti Peace Quilts- check here to see what they need to assist in earthquake relief efforts.
http://hmh.org/ed_butterfly1.shtml Holocaust Museum Houston Butterfly Project; they are collecting 1.5 million handmade butterflies to be part of a breathtaking exhibition scheduled to represent the 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust. Although the deadline has passed, you can still check out the exhibition schedule. See my article and photos of butterflies submitted to the Holocaust Museum.
http://homelessbridge.blogspot.com/ Bridge and Beyond Project accepts knitted or crocheted hats, mittens and scarves for people in need in Central Ohio. http://kidzquiltz.blogspot.com/ Kidz Quiltz provides quilts to children around the world who are in need. http://knittingandgiving.wordpress.com/ Knitting & Giving based in Connecticut Various Projects & Patterns http://lionbrand.com/charityConnection.html Lion Brand Yarn Crafting for Charity. http://made4aid.org Made 4 Aid; art and craft to benefit charitable organizations. http://motherbearproject.org/ The Mother Bear Project is dedicated to providing comfort and hope to children affected by HIV/AIDS in emerging nations, by giving them a gift of love in the form of a hand-knit or crocheted bear. http://ocquilts.tripod.com/mercyresponse.html Mercy Response Quilts for those who have lost their belongings in a national disaster. http://pawsforcharity.blogspot.com/ Paws for Charity - artwork to raise funds for animals in need. http://quiltsforcomfort.com/ Quilts For Comfort; quilts made for at-risk babies in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. http://thehousequiltproject.blogspot.com/ The House Quilt Project was established in June of 2010, to assist Furnishing Hope, who works with designers to create interior rooms and entire houses to help those in need. http://thepreemieproject.com/ The Preemie Project; Booties, Bonnets, & Blankets for Premature Babies. http://thesewingmachineproject.org/ The Sewing Machine Project accepts financial donations as well as machines in good working order in their effort to distribute sewing machines to individuals & community groups in need. www.afghansforafghans.org afghans for Afghans is a humanitarian and educational people-to-people project that sends hand-knit and crocheted blankets and sweaters, vests, hats, mittens, and socks to the people of Afghanistan. www.aidsquilt.org AIDS Memorial Quilt Project www.allpeoplequilt.com/millionpillowcases/index.html All People Quilt 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge- Making Pillowcases to help a variety of organizations in your own community. www.asopinc.org/html/programs.html All Shades of Pink Comfort Blanket (Crochet) Program for breast cancer patients. www.annsfabricsandcrafts.com/butterfly.html Butterfly Quilt Project provides quilts of hope & comfort to the children of The Shriners Burn Hospital and the Springfield Orthropedic Hospitals of Mass. www.asg.org/resources/giving-back American Sewing Guild has a variety of ongoing projects that can be sewn to help others. www.azblankets4kids.com Arizona Blankets for Kids distributes handmade blankets to babies and children in need in Phoenix, Arizona. www.beadedprayersproject.com/index.htm Although the deadline has passed to submit a beaded prayer contribution to this exhibit/project, directions on how to create beaded prayers are on this website and people can still make them to give to family, friends, and anyone they would like. www.bevscountrycottage.com/humanitarian.html Variety of handmade items needed for Latter-day Saint Humanitarian Center. www.bevscountrycottage.com/nest.html Wildlife Rescue Nests (tightly knit or crocheted) needed for orphaned animals and birds. www.binkypatrol.org Binky Patrol makes blankets for children and teens in need of comfort across the country. Blankets can be sewn, knitted, crocheted or quilted. www.blankets4canada.ca Blankets for Canada Society (knit, crochet, quilt). www.blanketsoflove.ca The Blankets of Love Foundation for Mental Health is a Canadian charitable organization that provides quilts to patients who are in hospitals across Canada for the treatment of a mental illness. www.blankiedepo.org Blankie Depot distributes handmade blankets (knit, crochet, quilt, fleece, flannel) to New Jersey children suffering serious illness and trauma. www.bonniebabies.co.uk/ Bonnie Babies (based in the UK) provides comfort through handmade baby items to help premature and special care babies. www.bridgingpeople.org Bridging People and Places can use donations of yarn, knitted teddy bear sweaters/hats, and people to teach others to knit to help those in need. www.carewear.org Care Wear is a nationwide group of volunteers who knit, crochet, and/or sew, providing handmade baby items to hospitals www.chemocaps.com Chemo Caps- knitted. www.chemohatpatterns.com Chemo Hat Sewing Patterns www.dressagirlaroundtheworld.com/ Sponsored by Hope 4 Women International, this program provides dresses to girls in countries near and far. By making a simple dress from a pillowcase or minimal fabric, you can provide dignity for little girls who frequently have nothing at all to wear. www.emptybowls.net/ Empty Bowls; A grassroots movement to help end hunger. www.firehousequilts.org Firehouse Quilts of Colorado makes quilts for fire departments, battered women's shelters and Denver Rescue Mission. www.foreverwarm.org/index.html Forever Warm offers comfort for grieving parents after the loss of a baby. www.halfknits.com Halfknits Charity Knitting and Crochet Group www.handmadeespecially.org Handmade Especially For You gives handmade (knit or crochet) scarves to abused women in family crisis centers in Southern California. www.hats4thehomeless.org Hats 4 The Homeless collects hand knit or crocheted gloves, scarves and hats for the homeless in New York City. www.hatboxfoundation.org/ Hat Box Foundation provides hats for people going through cancer treatment. www.headhuggers.org Knit, sew or crochet caps for people going through chemo, brain surgery, burns, etc. www.heartmadeblessings.org Heartmade Blessings needs crocheted squares and afghans to help those going through a difficult time. www.heavenlyhats.com Heavenly Hats distributes hats to children who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments and other medical conditions. www.hopemill.com Hope Mill can use various handmade items (knit, crochet, sew) for the homeless. www.kennelcomforters.blogspot.com Kennel Comforters needs handmade beds and other items for animal shelters. www.kittydreams.org House of Dreams can use handmade items for their Pretty Kitty Holiday Craft Bazaar to support their cat shelter in Portland, OR. www.knit-a-square.com Knit A Square; Crochet or Knit a Square for AIDS orphan in Africa. www.knittheworld.org/ Knit for Kids; Guideposts Program for supplying handmade (knit or crocheted) sweaters to children. www.knitwithlove.org Knit with Love distributes scarves, caps, blankets and other knitted items to those in need. www.knotsoflove.org Knots of Love creates hand crocheted and knitted caps for chemo patients and others facing life-threatening illnesses. www.komfort4kidsproject.websyte.com.au/ Komfort 4 Kids Project (similar to Project Linus in the US) makes blankets (sew, knit or crochet) for kids in Western Australia. www.lovinghands.org.uk/ Loving Hands (based in the UK) knits, sews, and crochets items for various charities. www.lubasblanket.org/ Luba's Blanket of Ohio creates knitted blankets to distribute to children in hospitals as well as elderly in nursing homes. www.marymadelineproject.org/ Mary Madeline Project donates infant / baby burial gowns and blankets to local hospitals for bereaving parents. Women donate their cherished wedding gowns to the project and volunteers give of their time, talents and love by making the baby burial gowns and blankets. www.mistyhollowcraftsandhobbies.com/promotions Knit or crochet helmet liners for those serving overseas. Also accepting donations of yarn. www.motherbearproject.org The Mother Bear Project provides hand knit or crocheted bears to children affected by HIV/AIDS in emerging nations. www.morethanwarmth.org Children making quilts for other children and sent to countries like Afghanistan, Zambia, Iraq, Mexico and several others. More Than Warmth is an educational project for students of all ages to learn about world cultures. It fosters understanding, knowledge, and compassion between cultures through nonviolent, nonpolitical, and nonreligious means. www.newbornsinneed.org/ Newborns in Need provides knitted, crocheted, sewn items to premature and full term babies in need. www.newhopefamilyservices.com/about-us/our-wish-list/ New Hope Family Services can use donations of Hand-made Booties and Baby Blankets. www.northwestquilters.org/help.html Comforting Quilts coordinates the efforts of members of Northwest Quilters to supply hundreds of quilts to those in need. www.operationquietcomfort.org/projects/handmade-projects/ Operation Quiet Comfort provides small hand sewn quilts (3' x 5' finished) to comfort our Wounded Warriors who are medically evacuated to a higher level of care, as well as for those troops who are sick or injured and recovering in place. www.operationgratitude.com/get-involved/how-you-can-help/ Operation Gratitude- Craft Projects to help support our troops. www.prayerquilt.org Prayers & Squares is an interfaith outreach ministry that combines the gift of prayer with the gift of a hand-tied quilt. www.projectlinus.org Quilts made for children of all ages in need. www.qovf.org Quilting Honor and Comfort for our Wounded Troops; The mission of the QOV Foundation is to cover ALL combat wounded servicemembers whether physical or psychological with wartime quilts called Quilts of Valor (QOVs). www.quiltchallenge.org Quilt Challenge to Benefit The Global Fund, making a healthier world for our children. Deadline has passed but you can check out the quilt exhibit. www.quiltsforkids.org Quilts For Kids; Volunteer quilters transforming discontinued fabrics into quilts that comfort children in need. www.quiltsfromcaringhands.com Quilts from Caring Hands (QCH) makes and distributes quilts at no charge to Oregon's children-at-risk: the homeless, those in foster care, drug addicted, HIV positive, visually impaired, abused, as well as infants of teen mothers. www.quiltpatternmagazine.com/program/KennelQuilt/index.html Small Kennel Quilt Team has guidelines and free patterns for small quilts used for cat and dog cages at animal shelters. www.rhf.org/rhfcms/waystohelp.aspx?id=100 Project H.A.N.D.S. (Helping Angels National Donated Support) is an organized effort by residents in more than 70 RHF communities to partner with organizations in their own communities who provide services to the homeless or those in need. H.A.N.D.S.¨ volunteers sew, knit and crochet needed items such as mittens, hats, scarves, blankets and stuffed animals for families in need. www.santaclausinc.com Santa Clause Incorporated of Greater San Bernardino collects handmade items (knit, crochet, sew, quilt, woodwork) for children in need. www.sewcaring.org Sew Caring is a host of volunteers that sew, knit, crochet and quilt. Its primary focus is on needy children from birth to age five primarily in the Beltrami County, Minnesota area. www.sewmuchcomfort.org Sew Much Comfort provides adaptive clothing to wounded service members of all branches of the military and national guard. www.shawlministry.com Prayer Shawls Ministry; knit or crochet shawls to send to those in need of comfort. www.snugglesproject.org Snuggles Project; knit, crochet or sew items for homeless animals. www.tailsofhopefoundation.org Tails of Hope Blanketed With Love needs blankets for animals recovering from treatment for life-threatening illnesses. www.thepaintedturtle.org Donate a lap quilt to The Painted Turtle, a camp and family care center for children with life threatening diseases. Each camper's bed is covered with a handmade quilt and each camper goes home with a stuffed turtle pillow and lap quilt. www.theshipsproject.com/Home.htm The Ships Project sends handmade items to deployed military personnel. www.threadsoflove.org Threads of Love provides clothing, blankets and other handmade items to sick and premature babies. www.touchinglittlelives.org/ Touching Little Lives provides knitted, crocheted and sewn items for needy premature and newborn infants in Ohio. www.usmcmuseum.org/supportmarines.asp Knitting for Marines needs donations of knitted helmet liners for troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. www.victoriasquilts.com/subpages/Volunteers.htm Victoria's Quilts; quilts made for cancer patients and treatment centers. www.warmheartswarmbabies.org Warm Hearts~Warm Babies sews, knits, crochets and quilts for infants and babies in need. www.woolworks.org/charity.html Wool Works has a huge list of charity links that can use donations of knitted items organized by state (US). www.wraptheminlove.org Quilts made for needy children around the world. If you would like your organization listed here, just drop me a line with your web site address and a brief description of your particular project.

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