You are my sunshine announcement.
Thursday, May 3, 2012 at 10:47AM It's easy to get bogged down in the sheer number of people, the sheer number of catastrophes, of causes, that truly need help in this world. It's easy to be paralyzed by indecision about where to send your money or volunteer your time. How do you choose one natural disaster and not another? How do you help the family next door and not the one down the street?
I don't have answers to why the world works the way it does. All I have are questions.
But I've decided -- and so have many of you -- that my inability to fix everything is not going to preclude me from helping with something.
When you start getting bogged down in the indecision, try casting a narrower net. Try looking for someone to help in your immediate family or circle of friends. Look for something close to home, something that speaks to you in an inexplicable way.
Many people wiser than myself have suggested that one of the best ways to improve your own happiness, self worth, and sense of purpose, is to help others. Don't let the fact that you can't fix everything stop you from helping with something.
One of the things I know how to do is make pretty yarn. In honor of one of my friends who lost her baby Charlie, I made this colorway last year, called Glimpse:
We took orders for it for a set period of time, and when the sale was over, donated a portion of the proceeds to SHARE, a nonprofit that helps families who have lost babies.
This year, we made You Are My Sunshine, and hoped to be able to beat last year's donation of $2,500.
It took a lot of work to create the 1,144 skeins of this colorway and its coordinates that were ordered. But it was worth it. Not only were we able to send something tangible to all of you who ordered some -- either for yourself or a loved one, but we were able to raise money for SHARE to extend help to more families who need it.
This morning I sent in our donation.
I'm really proud to say that, thanks to you, we were able to send $5,100.
I sent it with this message:
Thanks for caring. Thanks for doing something even though you can't fix everything.
Reader Comments (24)
I am happy to have contributed to this cause all too near and dear to my heart. For me, this is personal.
This brought tears to my eyes. I am so proud of our knitting community!!!
(what is this wetness in my eyes?) Oh, fantastic. This is such a worthwhile cause, and I appreciate all the effort that must have gone into dyeing & shipping all those skeins. Outstanding. <3
The yarn is beautiful. Thank you for doing this. I only wish I could have bought some!
Oh Yarnista, you made me cry at work. Good thing they already know I'm silly. Thank you to all for a lovely donation and effort and Yarnista for working too hard as always.
Thank you again for doing this; it is amazing to see such wonderful support for such a heartbreaking need. I'm deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to contribute on behalf of my own losses, and I"m thrilled to be able to now knit something in memory of my angel babies. xo
I only just heard of you recently, would have been delighted to participate. $5100 is an amazing donation!
on the days when we don't know what to say, and the times we don't know how to feel it is easy to just pretend horrible things don't happen. the loss of a child is something you can't really understand unless you go through it. while I can't say I know, I have seen the devastating effects. of course we all wish we could take away the pain of our loved ones, and we search for ways to help. thank you to Sharon, and the 3IG people for doing this. These days I wish I could do more to help, and I give my time but finances are difficult. This was a really nice way to be able to give to a cause that needs more attention, and still have something tangible to show for it. I know I will be using my yarn to honor a little girl gone too soon. It is so great that we doubled last years donation, and I hope to do it again next year! thanks again for all the hard work that went in to making this happen.
Sharon. . .I admire your generosity, your willingness, your talents. Thanks for putting those toward something that touches many of us so deeply. I am, as I've told you already, amazed and honored to have been a part of this and I can't thank you enough for putting in the hours and the creativity to make this so successful. THANK YOU! <3
tears!
So good to see my small yarn purchase, lumped together with so many others, make a big difference!
Wow! This is totally amazing! I am glad to have participated, even in a small way.
I'm in tears. This is awesome.
Wow. So amazing and touching.
Sharon, you are an angel for doing this - thank you!
Wow! This makes my day. Better than that, it makes me believe that we can make a positive difference in our own lives and in the world.
It's funny that you posted this today. Just this past Monday, something made me think about what the final amount was going to be, hoping that it would beat last year's total. But it turned out to be so much more! I am glad I could be a very small part of the very big total.
I am absolutely in tears. Wow, what an incredible number, but more than that, what an incredible amount of love for each one of those skeins, to those pennies and to the knitting that is happening for the healing soul.
Thanks Sharon and thanks everyone for such generous hearts. WOW
Sending many, many thanks to you -- and your staff -- for all of the hard work that this involved. It is a lovely colorway and a truly worthwhile cause. I'm so glad that I was able to participate, both last year and this year.
Thanks for being the catalyst for this! And for the beautiful yarn which I'm sure most of us would have bought anyway - it's just so much more beautiful knowing what our purchases have accomplished!
Thank you, Sharon!
This brought tears to my eyes. I am so touched by the knitting community and by this cause. Thank you!