Days 62 to 66: preparing for a weekend FULL of crafting with family and friends, with some fantastic causes to support!

stretchy bracelets for a great cause!
I have a great friend who teaches at the Crouse Hospital School of Nursing.  They regularly make trips to Guatemala through their Global Health Initiative program.  She came up with the idea of collecting the stretchy band bracelets to bring with her the next trip there.  This is her post from her brilliant Facebook event:

"While I was visiting my niece, she was working on these loom bracelets made out of stretchy bands. She had a ton of them made. I asked her what she was going to do with all of those and she said “I don’t know I just keep making them”. Then I had an idea, why don’t you give them to me and I can give them to the kids that come to our clinics in Guatemala. She was super excited about this and started making more. She asked a lot of questions about the kids we going to help. It made me so happy to see her energized by something, learning about the work that we are doing and thinking about others that have so little. I know you are saying stretchy bands how will this help the kids. The medication we give to the children to treat parasitic infections tastes awful, it’s very bitter! The bracelets will be used as reward for taking the medications, I know it’s a bribe but I am willing to bribe and beg so that these kids get the much needed medications in there sick tummies! 
As part of a team of faculty and students at Crouse Hospital College of Nursing each year we take a team to Guatemala to host six free medical clinics in rural villages. During these clinics we focus on primary health care, treatment of parasitic intestinal infections and vitamin replacement. The villages and places that we work in are very remote and the villages lack cleaning drinking water and sanitation. During our time in the country we treat over 1200 people. This year our team will be traveling June 3rd – June 13th and hosting six clinics. To learn more about our initiatives please visit Crouse Hospital College of Nursing Web site.
If you are interested in having us come teach or speak to your class or youth group we would love to! Just let me know.
We are also in need of pencils, flip flops and Over The Counter Medications. If you would like to donate to our mission information can be found on the Crouse Health Foundation Website, under global health initiatives.
Bracelets can be dropped off at 115 West Oneida St. Oswego NY 13126. A bin will be placed in the enclosed front porch! Or we can pick them up, message me and someone from the team will gladly come and get all donations. I will need to gather up the bracelets by at least May 19th so we can pack them! If you want to include a "made by" tag on your bracelets that would be great the kids are going to love to see that kids in the US are thinking of them and took time to make them something from there heart!
Peace and Love and much thanks – Carrie Kangah"

I have amazing friends, who recognize the power of giving, and that it comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

Starting tomorrow, my 10 year old niece and her 6 year old twin sisters will stay with me through Sunday evening.  Saturday we are having friends over (kids & adults) for a making jewelry party.  I have SO much stuff, it's insane! We will be making jewelry for ourselves, and the younger ones will have fun making stretchy bracelets for kids who don't have the luxury of making funky jewelry in their spare time.

There are more happy causes on the immediate horizion, but I think this post is good for now.  I have family & friends to prepare for!!!  Happy crafting!