I do not believe that things in this world happen by chance.

On Friday, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be able to meet in person with Caroline Boudreaux, founder of the Miracle Foundation.  Caroline is an incredibly giving individual who has committed her life’s work to helping the orphans in India.  Her personal story is moving, uplifiting and encouraging.

Throughout our conversation, we kept coming back to the orphans needs and what you can do to help.  There are over 600 children in these orphanages.  Of course, they need blankets, booties and beanies but it does not stop there.  As you can imagine, these children have very little.  Certainly not anything handmade.

I wanted to let you know some of the things that we’ll also be accepting for these children if you are up to it.

They play this game in India called Seven Tiles.  It is a game comprised of stacking tiles, the tiles used to build the orphanage, and then trying to knock the stack down with a ball.  Then it turns into a sort of dodge ball.  The problem is that they play this game with tennis balls.  If you’ve ever played dodge ball with a tennis ball, you probably know how it feels to be pelted with one of the balls.

So what they are asking is for soft cotton balls.  Heavy enough to throw, but soft enough to hit someone.  Of course, it would be need to be stitched pretty heavy duty to withstand the game.  I would love to see if any of you could come up with this type of ball.  We’ve got all different types of skill levels participating in Craft Hope and I’m sure someone has a good idea for this type of ball.  If so, stitch a few up and send them on to us so that we can get them to the orphanages in India.

Their next request was for pillowcases.  Simple, pretty, clean pillowcases to use in the newborns beds.  Currently they only sleep on a plastic mattress.  The pillowcase size is the perfect size to use as a sheet to put down onto the mattress.  This project doesn’t involve any sewing whatsoever.  You can find vintage, thrifted pillowcases at the thrift store for next to nothing.  And you are giving a baby a soft place to sleep.

Their final request was for handmade handkerchiefs.  Currently, with the babies, they safety pin a tissue to their shirt so that they don’t lose it and it stays with that baby.  They use this to wipe their nose and mouth throughout the day.  A nice soft handkerchief is high on their list of needs for these babies.  And they are simple to make.  You can just cut out a square of fabric or from a vintage sheet and you have a handkerchief.  When you think about it, you could make several with just one twin size sheet.

Anytime we work with orphans, their needs do not stop at our requests.  The United Nations states that every child has the same fundamental rights no matter where they live in this world.  These are:

• The right to clean water.
• The right to adequate nutrition.
• The right to health care.
• The right to education.
• The right to a stable loving environment.
• The right to conditions of freedom and dignity.

Through our partnership with the Miracle Foundation and other organizations in the past and in the future we hope to uphold these values for all children.  The unloved.  The unwanted.  The hungry.  The sick.  The uneducated.  And the poor.

If you still want to do more, you can sponsor a child, donate a bike, donate school books.  The list goes on.  And if you want to take it to the next level, you can travel with the Miracle Foundation to India.  I encourage you, if you have the means, go.  That is one trip you will not regret.

If you would like to donate any of these items, please leave a comment and have them to us by July 25th.

Spread hope.