The Rowans Hospice –£60British Heart Foundation – £70Cancer Research – £115Womb Cancer Research - £50
Lots to say - so little time to say it in! I'll keep you posted xx All views and opinions my own, unless stated!
Monday, 30 December 2013
Practise what you preach! 13 things in 2013
Out with the old...
Sunday, 29 December 2013
Having a merry little Christmas!
As well as packs lots of clothes, towels, and food were donated. Someone turned up with 240 mince pies, someone else with 8 chickens, a giant bag of potatoes and veg.
Big thank you to Central Point for hosting the event, we basically disrupted their hole day - the staff can't even see their desks for all the rucksacks!
So what is happening with all the packs? I have no idea what the total is, but there were hundreds delivered today. We're going to let Central Point sort them all out and distribute to the service users. As they hosted the event, we think it's only fair that they take what they need to give out to people over the next few months. We have made contact with services in Havant, Gosport and Fareham and Southampton, and they are thrilled to receive packs.
Happy Christmas everyone x (Julie Eden)
Friday, 20 December 2013
I'm ready... Updated!
My lovely Mum decided she'd have a go at collecting a few bits and if she couldn't complete a whole sack, would contribute her extras to mine. Well mum popped in to a charity shop, who donated to her a small rucksack and a bag of spoons (good start!) and she carried on her search of goods.
Today there is a market on in our home town of Waterlooville, so Mum thought she'd have a peruse for items and came across a stall called 'All-Cam' Military surplus goods. Mum stopped to have a natter and see what they had, but when the guy who worked on the stall told her the prices of the items, mum politely declined with them being out of her price range. The guy was then interested in to why mum wanted such items and so she explained 'The Rucksack Project' to him. Immediately he offered mum a bag and sleeping unit for just £10, which she snapped up!
Mum, still chatting with the guy, who explained he was a Buddhist and very interested in the movement as his religion puts him clearly in the 'do good to get good' frame of mind at all times; the stall holder came over to join them. Between the guy and mum, they explained to Keith Allen, the owner of 'All-Cam' about the project and what mum was trying to achieve. Keith asked my mum if she had any other shopping to do, and could she come back to him before she left Waterlooville.
Upon mums return to the stall, she was shocked and delighted to find that Keith had filled the one rucksack mum had bought with warm clothes and indeed gave her two further rucksacks filled with thermal leggings, clothes and coats! So that was it, mums mission complete, after not being sure she'd manage to complete one bag, she now had three!
Keith explained to my mum that he, his wife and children had been homeless and lived on the streets for a time and he knew how much these rucksacks would mean to a homeless person, just for some extra warmth at this time of year. Mum left Keith and his colleague and bought three thermal flasks from Wilko for £7.50 for the three and ta-da! 3 rucksacks for £17.50! Mum also raided hers and my sisters cupboards for some extra food bits to pop in the bags.
Mum and I took the three rucksacks she had and the one I'd made and shared all the items out between the bags. For example I had a packet of 4 toothbrushes - so we split them and put one in each. We added some extra food items, added tshirts, shared out the thermal leggings, put a coat in each and were done!!!
Thursday, 19 December 2013
December 2013....
2013 has been emotional.
As we are getting closer to Christmas and I am stressing more and more that I'm not ready, I am very aware that the year is coming to a close very soon. This year was the first entire year without Nan and I'm not sure if this is the reason, but I am struggling with Christmas somewhat this year. It’s like I cannot get my brain in gear to cope with it, I keep putting things off and off and telling myself I will think about them all nearer to Christmas…. Well Mrs. B it is now only 6 days away!
I've hardly sent any cards, I've hardly wrapped any presents, I've not done anything. I haven’t even put a tree up (I do have put a few bits of decorations up and around the lounge so I'm not completely bar humbug) I have finished Christmas shopping, so for that I should be grateful, and I've finished my rucksack of course – but that is IT! But these are the least of my worries and to be honest if my worries are this small, I have nothing to worry about at all.
As well as Christmas and all that jazz, December has sadly bought us to a very tragic end of the year. One of my lovely friends husband’s very tragically lost his very very short battle with cancer and has left behind his beautiful wife and his daughter. There aren’t enough words to express how terrible this is, how much this has saddened everyone and how very cruel of life it is. He was known by lots of people and there have been lots of lovely tributes to him on his facebook page and reading what people have taken the time and written about him is just lovely – but just so sad that he has been taken far too soon.
So please remember, especially at this time of year, hold your loved ones close, give them an extra hug and kiss and tell them how much they mean to you, for life is short and so very cruel at times xx
Heaven has gained another angel and we have lost a lovely chap, a true gentleman, a fantastic family man and a wonderful friend. His loss will be felt by many far and wide. Sleep tight Mr H, you can rest peacefully now. All our thoughts and prayers to your family left behind, especially the two girls you love so much, my heart goes out to them all. Much love xxx
I'm ready!!...
Well that’s it, I'm all ready!
For Christmas?..... No!!!
But for my rucksack to be handed to a homeless person at Centre Point on Monday 23rd December 2013.
This rucksack is my gift to a homeless person in Portsmouth this Christmas. All together it cost me about £22. We are encouraged to buy things from charity shops/donate items from home etc for the rucksack, but there are some items in there I bought new such as the toothbrushes, toothpaste, food, toiletries, pants and thermal vests. The rucksack is mine, I bought it for a camping trip – never ever to be repeated, so it was just sat around doing nothing, so what better way to move it on!
I did have a comment about how it is that someone could and does spend so much money on their rucksack and contents, but I didn’t see my £22 as lots of money; I looked at it as I would probably pay £30-£35 for hair cut for Christmas, I can deal with the inches and forego that haircut to provide for someone else, so really it actually saved me £8-£13!
I am so pleased to have found this event, to be part of it and to be able to have made a rucksack to make a small difference in a person life. Reading (most) of the comments on the Portsmouth events page has really restored my faith in humanity. Various people offering help, people offering lifts, people just generally pulling together all for the same cause – its just amazing.
Julie Eden is an amazing lady to have co-ordinated all of this for the Portsmouth area and to keep up with all the posts and questions on the events page, Julie truly is an inspirational lady. Sadly I have to workon Monday 23rd on the day of the actual event, so I will be dropping my pack off on Saturday, but I know the organiser and the volunteers at Centre Point will do a brilliant job of passing my gift on. Thank you all for making this happen.
Remember…. The days are getting colder, have a warm heart.
I was once told by a small African boy, ‘It’s nice to be nice’, and he’s right it is. This month hasn’t been the greatest and this is the only thing that has made me feel remotely Christmassy so far this year and so proud to be giving a worthwhile gift at this time of year.
Well done everyone and Merry Christmas! xxx
My bag and its contents….
Rucksack
Sleeping Bag
Scarf
Gloves
2xHats
3xJumpers
Dried Nuts
Dried Fruit
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Socks
Mugshots
Cup a Soups
Noodle box
Flask
Spoon
Pack of Thermal Tshirts
Pack of pants
Bars of Chocolate
Wet wipes
Foot gel
Bag of mints
Small box of Quality Street
Saturday, 7 December 2013
The Rucksack Project
Ok, so I mentioned before about my desire to go shopping and buy pretty things… if not, trust me… it’s what’s on my mind constantly and being very poor it just isn’t the way forward!
I have however decided to get involved with the Rucksack project, which in my mind is just bluddy excellent, which I mentioned briefly in a previous post…http://www.mrssammyb13.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/charidee-at-christmas.html
Here is a bit more about them, their website and some info as to why they started…
http://www.rucksackproject.org/
THE HISTORY OF THE PROJECT
I Founded in November, 2009 in Bristol, (UK). It was born out of a desire to simply help a homeless person who was sleeping rough during the freezing winter months. One bitterly cold late November day, I was wandering around the centre of Bristol with the last £12 in my pocket, joining the crowds of Christmas shoppers in their trawl for the usual perfunctory gifts, when I stepped up out of an underpass and my eyes drew level with a cold looking homeless man looking lost among the legs of the well-dressed, warm people in their designer labelled clothes and carrying smart paper store bags walking blindly past them. This stark contrast really struck me given that it was 'the season of good will' and yet, these lost souls were ignored while people went about their shopping.
I'd often popped into a store and picked up a bag of food items and given them to someone in the past, but i wanted to do more. Like many people, I'd often thought about doing the Christmas soup kitchen thing, but had never taken that step and then it struck me what I could do.
I went to my local YMCA charity shop and explained that I wanted to get a rucksack and put in it a sleeping bag, a fleece, a hat, gloves, socks, underwear, a flask that I filled with hot soup, a spoon, some tins of food (with ring pulls) and anything else I could fit in it...
They were amazing and they gave me two full sets for just £6 because they appreciated what I wanted to do. £4 for soup in the supermarket filled both flasks with soup and an extra tin.
A lovely lady who happened to be in the shop overheard us and asked me to pick-out some extra clothes to put in.. They charged her just £5 for 4 fleece tops... Buy these items in various charity shops supports not only the homeless people receiving them, but also the great many charities out there raising funds for so many different causes.
I added some extra food from my cupboard then took them into Bristol where I gave them to 'Steve' and his friends who were sleeping rough.
Words cant express how grateful they were and that is the best damn present I could have given anyone that Christmas.
As a web/graphics designer and big Facebook user, I came home that afternoon feeling good but knowing I'd still only helped one person, which somehow felt a little unfair when there were still so many people out there who needed the same help and so, I decided not to be quiet about what I'd done, but instead set-up a page on Facebook, created a simple logo and header and called it "The Rucksack project…
I only did this to try and encourage a few friends and family to do what I had done.. i thought maybe we could get ten or fifteen packs out there in Bristol, but I had no idea what was about to happen.
Within a few weeks, it had spread to 80 people and I was thrilled to think a few more packs had gone out. Inevitably, the new year came bringing milder weather and it all went quiet again until the late autumn 2010. Over that winter, the numbers swelled to just over 400 Likes on the page and, by the time the following winter ended, the page had some 1,200 Likes and was starting to get interest all over the place.
In December 2012, to aid the project, I decided to make a video to show people what we were all about and called out on the page for a volunteer. That's how I met Amy Little. We shot the film over a couple of days and I got it edited and online just before Christmas 2012 and that helped the project get up to around 1250 Likes by the end of that winter.
Winter 2013 was when it really took off and, with only a gentle nudge on the Facebook page, it suddenly went crazy, gaining 250 new Likes a day at one stage and, within a month, we'd more than doubled the followers to 2,750! The media started taking an interest and I was being asked for interviews on radio stations across the country.
There is lots more info on the website and they have a facebook page too. This somehow makes me feel more involved and actually doing something for charity, rather than chucking a few quid somewhere, which I'm sure will be equally appreciated, but Christmas makes me think more about presents and giving and what better idea!
I have started my rucksack, I have the bag and a sleeping bag and so far I've bought some socks. This weekend I am going to hit the charity shops of Waterlooville as well as having a good sort through Barney’s warm jumpers he does not wear and hope to get my rucksack done and taken down to Central Point in Portsmouth (my local event) as soon as possible.
Here is a few links you may be interested to read as well…
(warning some swearing)http://fannythechampionoftheworld.com/2013/10/23/emotional-baggage/
http://www.cause4opinion.co.uk/2013/11/helping-the-homeless-this-winter/
I'll keep you posted, Sammy xxx