The Common Thread Circle

Our friendly neighborhood newspaper, the Memorial Examiner, is spreading the word of The Common Thread Circle. In their recent editions, they have included us in their community bulletin board section. The text is a note asking people to come sew with us at the Kendall Branch Library, where we’ve got a new sewing circle for people who want more sewing, friendship and helping others!

THE COMMON THREAD CIRCLE
2-4 PM every second Thursday of the month, starting April 8
Kendall Neighborhood Library and Community Center
609 N. Eldridge
713-893-8604

The Common Thread Circle makes comforting fabricworks for patients in Houston area hospitals. Come knit and crochet with us. Instructions and patterns available. Meet new people and make new friends while helping people in need. Call 713-893-8604 for more information or visit our website at thecommonthreadcircle.org.

If you haven’t attended yet, come visit. The Kendall Neighborhood Library and Community Center is just down the street and we’d be glad to welcome you.

Our efforts are being appreciated by more than the patients, nurses, doctors, and hospitals.

The folks at Volunteer Houston have selected Common Thread Circle as one of the recipients of the 2010 Mayor’s Volunteer Houston Awards. How very exciting for our group!

Stay tuned to find out more as we learn more. We’re thankful to St. Luke’s Hospital for nominating us, and to Charles Peirsol and Starbucks for supporting us in the very big way they do. And none of this would have happened without you, our volunteers.

Hospitals

Since our last newsletter, we have donated handcrafted fabricworks to the following hospitals:

• M. D. Anderson
• St. Luke’s
• Methodist
• Texas Children’s
• Memorial Hermann
• Memorial City Memorial Hermann
• Harris County Hospital System
• Children’s Memorial Hermann
• Katy Memorial Hermann
• Sugarland Memorial Hermann
• St. Luke’s Woodlands
• Shriners Hospitals

Calendar

Meetings for you to note on your busy calendars:

We’re a busy group. But no matter how high the numbers go, or how many awards we get, what keeps me going is the good that we’re doing. Look at what showed up in our mailbox:

April 4, 2010

I have witnessed how much the pillows Common Thread makes mean to the patients. I am spending quite a lot of time with a terminally ill patient at The Vosswood and when a church member (actually a Pastor) delivered her pillow to her she grabbed hold of it and wrapped her arms around it — and hasn’t let it get far from her ever since.

We also have another member at The Vosswood and I can’t help but see that her pillow stays close to her all the time. The pillows seem to be security blankets for the patients… and how wonderful that is when your life is controlled by the sterile world around you!

- H.H.
Spring Branch Presbyterian Church

We’ve just sent out our fourth press release:

(Houston, TX) – During the first ten months of this year, The Common Thread Circle — a charity that gives handcrafted fabricworks to patients in hospitals — donated 10,000 fabricworks to patients in Houston-area hospitals.

Over the last two years, The Common Thread Circle has grown from a small neighborhood group to a powerhouse that donates over 1,000 items a month. Last year, the group donated 5,386 items to patients, having upgraded from roughly 300 items a year for the previous decade.

“Thanks to the hard work of our all-volunteer team, we’re able to get comforting fabricwork gifts to patients every hour of the day,” said group chairman Rima Blanc. “During this last year, we have comforted 10,000 patients with our handmade items.”

Thanks to you, we did it.

Thanks to you, we keep doing it.

To all who stitch, sew, stuff, crochet and knit, and to all those who donate, support and help from the sidelines — you did this. You should be proud. We’re helping more people than ever before, and the results speak for themselves.

Hospitals

We had an incredibly busy and successful month creating and donating our fabricworks to the following hospitals:

• M. D. Anderson
• Memorial Hermann
• Shriners
• Ben Taub
• Methodist
• Katy Memorial Hermann
• St. Luke’s
• Children’s Memorial Hermann
• Spring Branch
• Sugarland Memorial Hermann
• Southwest Memorial Hermann

Schedule

Meetings for you to note on your busy calendars:

Honor Roll

An extra thank you to several of you who have worked especially hard this month:

• Garrett and Dory Graham for delivering at least 20 bags of fabricworks to hospitals all over Houston
• Susan Dunten for creating such lovely pillows
• Marilyn MacRill for getting lost with me in the basement of St. Luke’s, cutting and organizing
• Jeanie Krantz for cutting and matching so many pillow sides

and last but not least

• Margaret Atmar for doing so many things so very well!

…and to every one of you who attend meetings and cheerfully stuff, carry, sew, knit and crochet.

See you very soon.

After a long day of cutting fabric, knitting skeins, stuffing pillows, stitching seams and plumping dolls, it’s wonderful to find this kind of positive feedback and support. We couldn’t do it without our volunteers, but we are also indebted to the volunteers at hospitals who have helped us get fabricworks to patients in need. We saved a sampler so you could share the joy.

Receiving your email reminded me to take a few minutes to say “thank you”! Your pillows are fantastic and so greatly appreciated by our patients and staff. Thank you all so very much for your time and dedication! Kudos to all!!

Sincerely,
Cathy Clark
Volunteer Services
Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital

Members of the Common Thread Circle –

You outdid yourselves this time!

The holiday heart pillows are especially lovely, and our patients at Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital are thrilled with this festive touch.

Thank you so very much!

We wish you a blessed Christmas and a New year filled with love and peace.
The Memorial Hermann Katy Volunteer Auxiliary

Dear Common Thread Circle volunteers -

Wanted to let you know how very appreciated your pillows are to our patients. Every single person gives a big “sigh” when they get a pillow put on.

The colors and patterns are beautiful and they are a real treat — especially when they find out they can take them home!

For all a true blessing.

Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital Volunteers

To the Volunteers of the Common Thread Circle,

Thanks for all the wonderful items you so generously donate to our new moms and babies!

Sincerely,
Maureen Brunetti, RN
Spring Branch Medical Center

We couldn’t do it without you.

Since our January newsletter, we have donated approximately 1,000 items to the following hospitals:

• Memorial Hermann General and Breast Cancer Center
• M. D. Anderson
• Childrens’ Memorial Hermann
• St. Luke’s, Northwest Memorial Hermann
• Sugarland Memorial Hermann
• Katy Memorial Hermann
• Harris County Hospital System
• Methodist Hospital
• Spring Branch Medical Center
• Memorial City Memorial Hermann

None of this would be possible without you. You come out each week to stuff. You volunteer to sew and knit and crochet. You cut out hearts and match fronts and backs of pillows. You buy the material. You help deliver the fabricworks to hospitals. You even donate money to keep our coffers full.

Bravo to each and every one of you.

The upcoming calendar:

See every one of you soon.

We’re on a roll, and it’s all thanks to your hard work and friendship.

Over three dozen brave volunteers met over the Christmas vacation. We had some good food, lots of fiberfil, and produced a mountain of pillows.

We donated fabricworks at high volume through November and December. This continues our rate of about 1,000 items a month. The Common Thread Circle is on a wonderful path to success for Houston area patients and hospitals. Each fabricwork we produce means another patient gets unexpected comfort.

Special thanks go to the following indispensable people:

• All members of the circle and friends who faithfully and cheerfully show up and help sew, stuff, knit, crochet and cut.
• Charles Piersol, manager of Town and Country Starbucks, and the Starbucks Corporation for its continuing support of our group.
• Garrett and Dory Graham for delivering pillows to hospitals all over Houston.
• Marilyn McRill and Beverly Davidson for going beyond the call of duty and the limits of human endurance.

Dates to remember

I look forward to every one of these seven meetings. We keep growing and helping more people than ever before!

Further thoughts

Condolences to Charles and his family on the loss of his uncle.

Do you know of anyone who might enjoy receiving this newsletter? Email his or her email address to me.

See you soon.

This patient testimonial was a holiday gift to us:

Thank you for the pillow. I was seeing my hematologist for the first time this week. One of the volunteers was in passing out pillows. I don’t even know what to expect as an outcome from seeing this doctor.

It sure did make me smile when the volunteer handed me a pillow. Thank you for making it.

Thank you for the work you do. Keeping the pillow with me as I sleep is good. :)
– D.M.C., Houston

Knowing that what we do makes people feel better is what keeps us going. And going, and going. We’re giving more than ever before because we know that it makes patients more comfortable.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

We bring you great tidings — we are helping patients at a record pace, and having a blast doing it:

• Since June 1, when our fiscal year begins, we have made and donated 6,739 handcrafted fabricworks to Houston area Hospitals.
• In six and a half months, we have donated more items than all of last year, when our total was 5,386.
• We are now on a pace to donate 1,000 items a month.
• We have added four new hospitals to our growing list: Northwest Houston, Katy and Sugarland, and Spring Branch Medical Center.

Typical of the dedication and commitment of our members, we chose to continue meeting during the holidays because every one of us knows that there will be patients cheered and helped by our fabricworks.

We know our Christmas and Holiday pillows are a huge favorite with patients and their families. As Rev. Thomas Hill, pastor at Clarewood House, enthusiastically stated, “There’s not a measure for how much good it does to awaken compassion in a patient. Animals and handmade objects awaken compassion and often change behavior in people. Your contributions of handmade fabricworks are just fantastic.”

Thank you all for your hard work, hope and belief. More fabricworks means more patients helped, and thanks to your dedication, we are helping more people than ever before.

Texas Children’s Hospital included us in their end of year celebration of volunteers. We got the sweetest note:

The patients and their families join The Auxiliary to Texas Children’s Hospital in thanking you for your generosity and thoughtfulness. Your gift is very much appreciated.

Thanks so much for the therapy dolls, small blankets, hats, bears and heart pillows!

Jody Ryan
Corresponding Secretary

It really helps to know that our fabricworks are connecting with patients in the gentle care of such thoughtful people.