The Common Thread Circle

In the last two weeks, we have donated to: Northwest Memorial Herman (new addition), Memorial Hermann Katy, Texas Children’s, Southwest Memorial Hermann, Ben Taub, L.B.J., and M. D. Anderson Hospitals.

Upcoming Meetings

• Oct. 19, Monday [ map ]
  Starbucks Town and Country 2-4 p.m.
• Oct. 20, Tuesday [ map ]
  Memorial Drive United Methodist Church ROOM D126 9:30-12 p.m.
• Oct. 21, Wednesday [ map ]
  Spring Branch Presbyterian Church, Crafts Room 9:30-12 p.m.
• Oct. 26, Monday [ map ]
  Starbucks Town and Country 2-4 p.m.

Volunteers

Many of you have stepped forward recently to help with our extra work. Our pace of donations has not faltered because of you. It is heartwarming to see your love of our group and its mission. Many thanks to the following in no particular order.

• Marilyn MacRill has graciously accepted the position of Grants Coordinator.
• Margaret Atmar: buying material, cutting pillows and sewing
• Marilyn MacRill: labels, cutting, taking over meetings
• Dory and Garrett Graham: sewing, deliveries to hospitals
• Jeanne Krantz: cutting pillows
• Beverly Davidson: labels, quilts, cutting and sewing
• Sarah Dikeman: buying material, cutting
• Lenore Alfredson: buying material and sewing
• Joyce Wolf: cutting pillows
• Mary Hirscher: cutting pillows

Thanks to every member of our group for your help and continued support.

Our mailbox runneth over — with good things. Maureen Brunetti, the ever-able and cheerful Volunteer, H2U and Marketing Coordinator at Spring Branch Medical Center, wrote in to tell us that our blankets and hats are a hit:

The L&D nurses loved the latest goodie bag. The knitted, stuffed animals were adorable and the caps so cute and tiny. The receiving blankets are always a huge hit. Your work is greatly appreciated here at Spring Branch.

We’re thankful to Maureen and others like her in hospitals who make sure that patients get these fabricworks when they are in times of need.

I am delighted to give you an update on our achievements. We are four months into our new year and can happily report continued growth in our mission and our group. We have added the following hospitals to our growing list: Michael Debakey V. A., Katy Memorial Hermann, Spring Branch Medical Center, Shriners and Texas Childrens hospitals. We donate almost 1,000 handcrafted fabricworks each month. We meet six times a month, and many of our Members sew, cut, quilt, knit and crochet at home. We feel great about what we do, and we hear regularly from patients and hospitals that our efforts are both appreciated and helpful.

Check out this report from Jennifer Barnes at the Harris County Hospital System.

Distribution:
Once we receive your donation we divide up the items according to the areas/units listed below for both Ben Taub and LBJ. Those items that are set aside for LBJ are delivered within two days by our District Transportation team who deliver to Rich Arenschieldt, my coordinator at LBJ. He then delivers to the units as listed below. The Nurse Managers take receipt of the items and distribute to the patients either before or after their procedures as is appropriate. The patients just light up when they receive these gifts and it makes their day! It makes our day too! Thank you for you gift of love.

Pediatric Emergency – receives heart pillows and knitted bears
Infusion Center – receives heart pillows
Cardiac Nursing Unit – receives heart pillows
Child Life – receives therapy dolls, knitted bears, sweater sets, and hats
Nursery – both Newborn and Level II – receives frogs, bears, bunnies, sweater sets, and hats
Breastfeeding clinic – receives heart pillows, bears

October Meeting Dates

Many thanks to Lenore, Marilyn and Charles for enabling us to meet on August 31. We have lots of fabricworks ready to donate in the upcoming week. Our recent donations have gone to M.D. Anderson, Shriners, Children’s Memorial Hermann, Ben Taub, Texas Children’s, Methodist and Memorial Hermann Hospitals. Good work team!

September will be a busy month. Here are our upcoming meetings:

• Every Monday
  2:00 – 4:00 PM at Starbucks at Memorial City, 12850 Memorial Dr #440 [ map ]
  September 14, 21, and 28
  Bring friends and family to help stuff pillows!
• September 15

  9:30 AM – 12:00 PM at Memorial Drive United Methodist Church, Room D220 [ map ]

• September 23 [ map ]

  9:30 AM – 12:00 PM at Spring Branch Presbyterian Church

I look forward to seeing all of you. Even though I was enjoying a most excellent visit with a grandchild between bites of fab chocolate, I still missed you and our shared mission to help out in Houston hospitals.

When you have a vision of what is the right thing to do, and someone else sees it, that makes you appreciate them all the more. Donna Field, you’re the greatest!

June 3, 2009

Dr. Charles Simmons
Memorial Drive United Methodist Church
12955 Memorial Drive
Houston, Texas 77079

Dear Dr. Simmons:

On behalf of The Methodist Hospital I would like to acknowledge the hard work, commitment and generosity of The Common Thread Circle at Memorial Drive United Methodist Church. We are so touched by the hundreds of beautiful hand-made heart pillows. Not only do our patients appreciate them, but the hospital appreciates the time and effort involved in making these items available for us.

We wish you could be here to hear the thanks from our patients and greatly appreciate the thoughtfulness that started this group’s project.

Sincerely,

Donna Field
Program Development Specialist
Volunteer Services
The Methodist Hospital

We have a vision here at The Common Thread Circle: each patient facing a hospital stay gets a custom fabric work so they have something to hold, to comfort them and keep them warm, that will help them face what’s ahead with bravery, dignity and hope.

We thank all who share this vision.

This week we have donated handcrafted fabricworks to Methodist, Spring Branch, St. Luke’s, Triumph Memorial Hermann and the Michael DeBakey V.A. Hospitals. All of the hospital contacts to whom I have spoken have congratulated us on our picture and article in the Texas Medical Center Newsletter. All are excited about our expanding coverage of their hospitals. Bravo to each and every one of you for your efforts. We are making a difference in patients’ lives.

We received this note from Jimmie Jones:

I was in the Blood Center of M.D.Anderson last week and saw pillows donated by Memorial Drive Church’s own Common Thread organization. Those patients were receiving Plasmapheresis, Stem Cell donation, Red Cell donation, Bone Marrow, Sickle Cell and many other procedures and tests. As one person said, ‘Someone made this pillow to love me, so I feel God loves me;’ The patients are comforted by the warm love of the pillows. These pillows can be taken home and used when they drive or when they sleep. The patients in the Blood Center feel ‘loved’.

Upcoming Meeting Dates – NOTA BENE

August 10,17, 24 & 31: Starbucks Town and Country 2-4pm, No Meeting Sept 7 Labor Day

August 12: Knitters/Crocheters and Machine Sewers of flannel baby blankets. Come to my home to pick up supplies. I have lots of yarn and flannel I would love to give you to complete your projects. Stay awhile to knit/crochet, chat about patterns and have some iced tea and dessert. No meeting in September.

August 18: Meeting at Memorial Drive United Methodist Church, Room D220 at 9:30 a.m.

August 26: Meeting at Spring Branch Presbyterian Church, Activity Room, at 9:30 a.m.

Join us at any or all of the above. You will be very welcome.

Please check out the archive for August, 2009 to see some new pictures of our fabricworks.

If you ever need to ask yourself, “Why do I do this?” — why do I give up my Monday morning to go to Starbucks, eat homemade goodies and stitch, sew, cut and stuff like mad with other lovely people — you could always read this email a few dozen times.

We are so pleased to be a recipient of your wonderful heart pillows. The patients really appreciate the love you share with them. Keep up the good work of bringing comfort to our patients.

Becki Baird, RN
MHSWH Volunteer Manager

Becki, and all others who’ve written in with words of support and gratitude, we’re grateful to you. You’re the ones who keep us going, even when the coffee gets cold and the cookies dwindle in the tupperware.

Here’s our news for the first half of August:

We are now donating a handcraft to a patient every hour, instead of once every two hours as we were a few months ago. This is a giant leap forward for us.

Our accounting year starts on May 22. For the first two months of this year, we donated 1915 items to area hospitals. Partially because of this success, we have been able to add the VA hospital to our list of local hospitals we service.

Your hard work has made all of this happen. Keep up the good work!

We made the bottom of the front page in the Texas Medical Center News, a newspaper published by the Texas Medical Center.

Here’s the article online, and below, how it looked in print:

This coming week will be a busy one for our group: Lots of meetings, lots of opportunities to make fabricworks for patients in Houston area hospitals. As Charles Peirsol, Manager of the Town and Country Starbucks says: “It’s all about the patients.”

Please join us at one or all of the following meetings. I can guarantee you will be well fed, surrounded by wonderful people, and feel good about what you do.

Monday, July 20: Meet at Starbucks from 2-4 p.m.

Tuesday, July 21: Meet at Memorial Drive United Methodist Church at 9:30 a.m. in Room 220.

Wednesday, July 22: Meet at Spring Branch Presbyterian Church, 1215 Campbell Rd., at 9:30 a.m.

In the last two weeks, we have donated handcrafted fabricworks to Methodist, Spring Branch, TIRR, M.D.Anderson, Ben Taub , Memorial Hermann and St. Luke’s Hospitals. They look forward to our contributions to patient health and write us appreciative notes. Look for some of their comments on this website.