Final Drop-off

The last of the pajamas were dropped off yesterday. I brought about 9, 30 gallon bags to St Vincent's in Dayton. This is a homeless shelter, for families, single women, and women with children. Since the economy tanked, they have seen their numbers increase by 60%. It is a full service shelter with 3 meals a day-though rules are plentiful to make this operation work.

When clients come in, whatever things they bring are put in plastic "totes" and kept in one central room. They can check out their belongings at any time, however, sleeping quarters are completely empty with the exception of beds. They don't want things "walking away" and it is easier to monitor whose is what with this system. Inside the sleeping area, are tons and tons of twin beds-which are filled to capacity every night. (Think 100 or so, clustered in little groups of 2-3 for families or mothers with children.) The only personal items I saw were a few teddy bears on some of the beds for children.

Impressive, heart-breaking and humbling all at once- this shelter leaves no doubt how real the need is, and yet also, how generous individuals are to support a shelter of this magnitude. Thank you again to everyone who helped support "Jammies for Junior." Have a blessed and Merry Christmas.

The End (I mean it this time)

So I know I am losing effectiveness by saying "The End" 19 times, but this time I really mean it. NEW TOTAL: 856 PAJAMAS.

To prove I am serious, we delivered the first load today. The Hope House in Middletown received 150 pajamas, a long with 10-15 blankets, and another huge bag of miscellaneous clothes that have come in. Next week, we will deliver all the rest so they are there for Christmas.

NEW TOTAL: 612 PAJAMAS

So even though I am all done collecting, a few pajamas are still making their way in-just in time before I begin delivering over the next few days. As of now, the new total is 612 pajamas. That is not even counting the bags and boxes I have of "Other" things such as coats, blankets, shoes, t-shirts, jeans, etc. I am going to have so much free space at my house I don't know what to do.

Also, my husband deserves a medal of honor since he patiently humors me on these endeavors and on this one in particular, helps to fold and wrap hundreds and hundreds of pajamas....

Pajama Drive-Complete!

So I am all done "officially" collecting pajamas. (I have some more coming tonight and Monday)-but we are so far beyond the goal it is insane. As of this moment, I have 537 pajamas in my living room-all of which are being delivered in the next 2 weeks, to multiple organizations. Thanks so much to everybody who helped! There will be a lot of happy kids this year.

430 PJs and Counting!!!

So this is truly incredible. In 5 weeks, I have 430 pajamas sitting in my living room. Since it is way past the 250 goal, I contacted 2 additional shelters to give pajamas to. They are confirming the number of children they have-and based on need, we will now have at least 4, maybe 5 organizations that will be receiving pajamas!

Since so many have come in, so quickly, I have decided to end the drive on December 18th. That way, all the children will be able to have pajamas by Christmas.

Some Jammie facts:

*Of the 430 I have, 80% are brand new
*39 pairs are adult sizes
*Disney and Carters are definitely the most popular brands
*I have over 20 pairs of SpongeBob
*One pair may have a bone hidden in it (courtesy of my dog Buddy). We could not figure out how all the stacks kept being messed up, until we saw Buddy snooping around. He seemed really upset when we straightened them back up, and has a tendency to hide his bones. The bone is still missing.