What do you get when you combine 13 crafty ex-pats living in Hamburg, Germany? A phenomenal amount of love that’s what. Jessica Allen is a great friend of mine who runs Gus & Ollie and makes the most adorable sock monkeys you ever did lay your eyes on. She’s an Aussie currently residing in Germany and felt a calling to rally the crafty ladies of her area for a Hamburg Working Bee for Craft Hope.

Many of you have expressed an interest in getting together with other people in your area to make projects for Craft Hope. Darby did one in Alabama back in the fall with the sock monkeys. And now Jessica lets us in on how she did one for our most recent project making bean bags for orphans in Liberia. She’s a member of Toytown and the Hamburg Stitch n Bitch group, who regularly get together and craft. In both groups, she spread the word that she was wanting to get a group together and the response was amazing. Complete strangers contacted her, wanting to help in any way they could.

Some brought their sewing machines, some brought fabric scraps, some went out and bought new fabric and whatever supplies they could find. A community coming together to help another. Beautiful.

The second part of the Working Bee was a collaboration with the American Womens Club (AWC) . So they pitched the idea to the AWC Stitch n Bitch Group and they jumped at the chance to participate.

So with Beth, AWC Secretary, as their hostess they came together, complete strangers to collaborate and work together towards this common goal of making bean bags for the children in Liberia. The women represented Australia, America, Canada, South Africa, Spain, Denmark, and Germany.

They discussed how this is a fantastic way to be able to give back to those in need, in some way (which is difficult in Germany if you don’t speak fluent German). Everyone was personally touched by the project and was eager to find out more about Craft Hope, already planning more Working Bees for the future.

This beautiful group of women completed 10 sets of bean bags, including bags to carry them in. I truly believe that people want to help, they want to do something, they just haven’t heard or been asked. All it takes is one person to make a difference in many peoples lives. Jessica is a beautiful example of just that. A big shout out and thank you to the beautiful women of the Craft Hope Working Bee in Hamburg, Germany!

Let’s keep this thing going. The more people involved, the more people we can help.

A group of girls getting together to make a difference. Thank you Janice for coordinating and the life lessons you are passing onto them. They are priceless.

How to set up your own Working Bee:

1. Get your community involved: ask friends, craft groups, church groups, facebook, children’s groups. Spread the word on message boards, through email, etc. You can start a Kids Craft Hope Working Bee or one for just adults.
2. Choose a host, location, and date to get together.
3. Gather supplies. It’s amazing how little you have to buy when people come together and bring what they already have. Some people have even received donations from local craft stores for fabric and supplies. Never hurts to ask.
4. Get together, start crafting, and have fun. It is a beautiful thing to see one community come together to help another. Not everyone is going to have the same skill set. But a collective group of individuals can accomplish quite a bit.
5. Please let us know here at Craft Hope (jade@crafthope.com) if you have started a Craft Hope Working Bee. If you set up a blog for it, let us know. We will be updating the Craft Hope site soon and will have a section for links to Craft Hope Working Bees around the world.

Spread hope!