Craft Hope Project 8

By now, we all know about the devastation caused by the Gulf Coast oil spill. Personally, I've wandered what I could do to help and have come up with nothing. Luckily for me, the wonderful people at Craft Hope are partnering with The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies to assist them in their efforts in caring for and cleaning oiled marine mammals, mostly dolphins and sea turtles. This will be Project 8.

Craft Hope's Project 8 will be collecting handmade washcloths and hand towels for use in cleaning all of the dolphins and sea turtles. These will be thrown away after a few uses, so there is absolutely no need to worry about how they look.

If you can sew, knit, or crochet, then you can do this. They are asking that you create sets of hand towels and/or wash rags to send. Preferably in sets of 10 or 20.

Since they are called "Craft Hope", they do require that they be handmade, however, several people have asked about simply cutting up old towels and t-shirts to send. They said this is okay! Also, someone mentioned not being a sewer and wanted to do the cloths where you tie the edges with knots, like you can do for the no-sew fleece blankets. Craft Hope says this is good, too! So if you're not a crafter, please don't let this stop you!

Craft Hope says this is also a great opportunity to get kids involved. It’s a wonderful way to teach them about our beaches and the fragile marine life. Perhaps they can help you cut up the fabric? It's never too early to teach them about doing what they can to help save the environment, don't you think?

The project deadline is July 3rd, so you still have plenty of time to join in! I think I will get started tonight so I can get as many sets of 10 made up as possible.

If you want to join in with me for this wonderful project, go here.

You can send your handmade towels and wash rags to:

Kimberly Davion
c/o IMMS Oil Spill Relief
1700 East La Rua Street
Pensacola, Florida 32501
USA

They also said that if you'd like, include a bottle of Dawn dishwashing soap, as this is the soap they use to cut through the oil on the animals.

Don't you just love this project? It's so easy, and yet so rewarding. We can really make a big difference if we all step up to help with this! Please let me know if you intend to help!

I will love you forever if you help!! {Okay, I will anyway, but do it anyway--even you non-crafty peeps!}