I need your help

Let me tell you what I want, then I'll explain why.

I am looking for donations of 24 drawstring totes for boys and 40 zipper pouches for girls.

Random?

Not really.

Since I was a teenager, I've been helping with a program called Royal Family Kids Camp. This is a camp for youngsters in the foster care system here in America. These children are neglected. Abused. Abandoned. Lost. RFKC strives to mend those wounds by providing a week of fun, comfort and love. I had the opportunity to attend RFKC as an adult leader and the experiences changed my life. We played games and sang songs and ate three meals a day and had a birthday party for all the kiddos with presents; presents they took home, and for some of them, these presents became their only possessions. We hugged. We cried. We laughed. We talked. My only job for the entire week was to love on these kids. It was by far the easiest and the most mentally and physically exhausting thing I have ever done in my life.

These kids age out of the program at 12 years.

This summer, we are joining forces with a new camp geared toward teenagers; a new camp that will give these kids and others a chance to experience the love and acceptance we strive for with RFKC. Teen Reach Adventure Camp (aka TRAC) is a three day single gender camp for kids ages 12-15 providing a fun-filled, outdoors experience with safe loving adults to help provide an experience that brings hope and encouragement to these hurting teens.

Every child who attends RFKC with us gets a quilt handmade by some generous donors in and around the Valley (where I live). We would like to do something similar for the TRAC kids and have come up with a few small items that we really feel will make a difference. The kids attending these camps come with next to nothing. We give them clothes and toiletries, and since the TRAC kids are teenagers, we've decided to make them bags to hold their toiletries.

This is where you come in.

We have 24 boys attending camp this summer and we would like a drawstring bag for each of them. These bags should be fairly simple, made with manly/teen appropriate fabrics. Since this is a camp, outdoorsy fabrics are fine. Please no halloween (or any holiday for that matter), skulls, chop-choo trains, teddy bears, etc. We want these to be age appropriate and uplifting. The lovely Kat over at Mummas Time to Create has posted a recent tutorial for making drawstring bags that are the PERFECT size. You can find it here. When you make your bags, please leave the handles off.

We have 40 girls attending camp this summer. For them, we would like a simple zipper pouch measuring about 7"x 9" finished. Again, these should be simple: just one fabric for the outside and one for the inside. We want these to be special and unique, but also uniform so the girls can all feel their gifts are equally lovely. Remember, fabrics should be age appropriate (teenagers). Here are a couple tutorials for basic zipper pouches:

See Kate Sew
Skip to My Lou

Think camp. Plaid. Green and yellow are the colors of TRAC, if you want to go that route. Modern. Fun. Things teenagers would like.

If you are willing to donate one or more of these items, please let me know in the comments section on this post. I need all the items by Monday, June 18th in order to get them to the campers on time.

Also, please help me spread the word and get all these campers their bags. Blog about it. Facebook it. Share wherever you are willing and link back here so donors can let me know in the comments that they are going to help.

Thank you all so very much for your consideration!

UPDATE:

Here is what has been claimed thus far:



24 Drawstring Bags for Boys

1. Audrey
2. Audrey
3. Steph J
4. Steph J
5. Kathy H
6. Kathy H
7. Kathy H
8. Kathy H
9. Kathy H
10. Jess
11. Jess
12. Ella
13. Ella
14. Ella
15. Susan
16. Mary-Kate
17. Mary-Kate
18. Di
19. Mary-Kate
20. Mary-Kate
21. Ella
22. Kristy
23. Kristy
24. Theresa T.




40 Zipper Pouches for Girls

1. Susan
2. Nancy
3. Nancy
4. Helen
5. Helen
6. Shanna
7. Shanna
8. Jenelle
9. Jenelle
10. Jess
11. Jess
12. Alli
13. Alli
14. Jennifer
15. Jennifer
16. Susan
17. Roslyn
18. Mer
19. Mer
20. Jodi
21. Jodi
22. Hadley
23. Di
24. Marian
25. Marian
26. Judith
27. Judith
28. Angie W
29. Angie W
30. Ellie Q
31. Mary-Kate
32. Mary-Kate
33. Mary-Kate
34. Mary-Kate
35. Mary-Kate
36. Mary-Kate
37. Kristy
38. Kristy
39. Ellie Q
40. Ellie Q

I will strike your name off the list once I have received your bags.

When you are ready to send, please email me for the shipping address.