A Little Update - Some Donations Delivered!

Today we delivered some donations on behalf of Handmade Help....

We headed to Whittlesea with the art supplies (boxed AS Oil Paints, Turps, Brushes, Rembrandt Pastels, Sketch Pad and Canvas Board) - for a lovely lady who needed things to start painting again. We also passed on a beautiful crocheted rug and a cute softie to her. Thanks for those lovely donations, Handmade Helpers. She was so grateful and teary - and especially loved the softie. She showed us a photo album full of images of some of the HUNDRED or more paintings she lost in the fires. Her paintings are really beautiful - lots of lovely landscapes and botanical pieces too. So terribly sad that her life's work was destroyed. Thank you SO much to everyone that donated money to help us buy her paints and things. We'll be visiting again in a few weeks time to see how she's going

After Whittlesea, we drove through the hills - via Kinglake - and on to Healesville. It was a horrible, horrible eerie drive. Blackened trees, burnt out vehicles and homes destroyed all along the roadside. Signs were hung saying 'Keep Out Looters' and 'Respect Locals! No Photos!' The trees are shooting green now, from their black trunks - and new growth is dotting the forest floor - but these are tiny hopeful signs on a long, hard trek back to recovery for these towns. It was really awful up there, and I can't imagine how hard it is for the people that are living in caravans beside the devastated remains of their former homes. It was shocking and sad - and I'm an outsider. I can't imagine how it feels to be part of these communities. Australian flags were hung all over the place, a testament to the fighting spirit of these amazing people.

At Healesville we met with a lady from the Salvation Army who has started receiving requests for knitting needles, sewing kits, sewing machines and fabric. So we took a boot load of things to her. She'll be distributing it over the next couple of weeks - and then we'll do another run up to restock her.

On behalf of the team at Handmade Help, thank you for your donations. Now begins the time when people are starting to assess their losses - and your donations will be needed. We mustn't forget about the hard times these people are enduring.

Things you can do:
Donate to The Red Cross.
Send us something hand-made-with-love for someone who has very little.
Drop off some Shampoo! They need shampoo donations in Healesville (they are overloaded with conditioner!) - if you live nearby take it to the Salvation Army near the supermarket or bring it to us at Mike's.