Greetings from the land of incredibly grateful, humbled, and appreciative. Words cannot begin to express the gratitude we have for everyone involved in Craft Hope. You blogged about Project 8, you spread the word through your social groups, you rallied others to join in. You stayed up late cutting, sewing and knitting, you got your kids involved, you gave others your time. Which, in my most humble opinion, is the most precious gift you can give another person.

Kimberly graciously put up three posts last night showing you all the enormity of Craft Hope’s Project 8. We have thousands of people participating. Groups from all around the world have come together to aid in the cleaning of the oiled sea animals due to the Gulf Coast Oil Spill. We have collected and distributed 65,000 towels. Thank you simply is not enough.

In order to not become a victim of our own goodwill we are going to have to put the brakes on Project 8. We have supplied the relief organizations in the gulf coast with towels they can use for years. They have reached capacity for what they can store and use. Job well done my friends! You stepped up when called upon and met their needs. This is what we are here for as a community.

So here is where we go forward…

If you have towels and they are ready to mail, please wait for a blog post later this week. We are contacting more relief organizations on the gulf coast and hope to have mailing addresses for you to send towels to directly.

If you have a group that has planned to get together to make towels, please continue to do so. Again, we’ll have an address for you soon.

At this point we ask that you don’t make anymore towels that aren’t already in the works. Thank you so much for understanding.

We’ll have plenty of follow up information for you on our site very shortly. We’ll also be launching the next Craft Hope project very soon!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for everyone involved in this beautiful Craft Hope community. You are all amazing and have proven that little things do make a difference. Each and every towel crafted with love…. 65,000 times. Thank you.

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Updated 8/2/2010: If you have made towels, please send them to us at: Craft Hope, P.O. Box 341774, Austin, Texas, 78734

Sunrise came rather quickly on Sunday morning, and a 5am wake-up call came even quicker. Did we even sleep? haha! No matter, we were ready to go!!! The above Uhaul picture is a 5am sunrise crowning through the treetops over the Project 8 Uhaul, all ready for departure!  Apologies for no loading photos from the night before… it was pitch black and we were focused on loading more so than snapping photos. Work was to be done.

Donations are coming in and the numbers are astronomical. In yesterday’s mail alone we received over 1,500 towels. We are scurrying as fast as we can logistically trying to figure the best way to collect this number of towels and get them distributed to the organizations that need them most. We are having some growing pangs that I’m trying to work out.

We are in the process of filing our nonprofit status, but things take time. The problem we are having now is that we are receiving so many towels and don’t have the funds to be able to rent trucks to deliver them. Craft Hope doesn’t receive any money any place. All of what we have done so far has been done through the generosity of the Craft Hope community. We are also going to need to start storing the towels as Kimberley’s garage, in Pensacola, is like a huge Jenga puzzle and is jam packed with boxes of towels. I’m going to start receiving the towels here in Austin, but am sure my garage will fill up in a matter of days as well.

So here is my humble plea to ask for sponsors to help pay for the storage and truck rentals to deliver the towels. Both Kimberley and I will drive anywhere we need to to be able to deliver the towels for you. We are asking for sponsors to help with this process. Anything will help at this point. And for those of you who would like to make a tax deductible donation I can try to get receipts for you from the rescue organizations we are working with.

If you are interested in sponsoring Craft Hope Project 8 :: Gulf Coast Oil Spill please send me an email at jade@crafthope.com. This is all new for us and we are doing our best to be able to collect and deliver the tens of thousands of towels coming our way. Many companies have contacted me asking if they can make a towel donation, actually a sponsorship would help so much more at this time. Please consider helping in this way.

Here is a video from The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies of how they clean the oil soaked turtles. Bath time!

For those of you who live in the Austin area, I am making a trip to Gulfport, MS to visit The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies on Friday. I know it’s short notice but I would love to be able to hand deliver your towels for you. Please contact me at the above email address if you’d like to meet up so I can get your donations from you. My family and I will be allowed in the quarantined oil soaked turtle area to see the turtles and talk to the folks at the IMMS. Such an honor that I don’t take lightly. I’ll be taking loads of pictures and video to share with you all.

If you are in the Gulfport, MS area or are passing through the IMMS would love for you to visit. They have public tours that you can find on their website.

Today my kids and I are cutting up old towels to donate to the IMMS and we are reading library books about the ocean. Our visit to the IMMS will be such a wonderful experience for all of us and I want the kids to know that they can make a difference in this big world. One turtle at a time.

If you would like to sponsor Project 8 please contact me at jade@crafthope.com. Thanks for all you do!

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As of this time (7/20/2010) we have suspended donations due to meeting the needs of the gulf coast rescue organizations! Please email jade at jade@crafthope.com if you have questions. Thanks so much!

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Updated 8/2/2010 – If you have made towels, please send them to us at: Craft Hope, P.O. Box 341771, Austin, Texas, 78734

Craft Hope was started a year and a half ago with the idea that maybe, just maybe there is a community of people out there that want to make things for others. It all started with a pillowcase dress, an orphanage in Mexico, and twenty -five bloggy friends. We didn’t know where we were going. We didn’t have a clue if anyone else would be interested. We just started sewing. And sewing. And sewing. Today I look around and am absolutely speechless by the impact that Craft Hope has had around the world. This community truly rocks my socks. I am humbled, blessed, and grateful to all of you.

We have decided to move the deadline for Project 8 :: Gulf Coast Oil Spill to the end of the summer so keep the towels coming. They are all needed and will be used. This is not a situation that is getting better. Thank you to those of you organizing groups, cutting up old tees, and knitting/crocheting washcloths. Each stitch, each cut, every little motion is filled with love.

This beautiful picture showed up on the Craft Hope Facebook page from Lisa. She wrote…

“Thanks to the inspiration of my daughter, Savannah Moulton, I have suggested to our Summer Camp that our “Pass It On ~ Giving Project” be in supporting your efforts in caring for and cleaning marine mammals. We are kicking this off tomorrow and here are a few campers and a counselor working on the sign to let the parents know how they can help with Project 8. Hoping it will be a success and we will be sending our donations soon!”

It truly takes just one person to make a difference in this world. One person to have an idea, feel led, and act upon it. Every little thing you do for the greater good makes a difference. I read every single comment and email that comes in. Many times I am brought to tears. To those of you who are organizing groups, you amaze me. I’m hearing stories of church groups, camps, colleges and universities, girl scouts, schools, and friends getting together and cutting up towels to send along. People around the world are stepping in. Craft Hope has truly become a global community of the most beautiful kind.

Lauren is one such person who stepped up and made a difference in her community by rallying folks to get involved with Craft Hope. See Lauren’s amazing interview on the local news here. She got together with others and they made 4,000 towels and collected over 1,200 oz of Dawn. Way to go Lauren!!

Truly nothing melts my heart more than seeing kids involved with Craft Hope. Ashley did a wonderful demonstration that you can also do for your kids here. Maybe it’s the teacher in me, but show your kids what’s going on. Teach them about the earth. And empower them by showing them that they can help.

Here are some Craft Hope kids!

As of right now we have collected over 3,000 towels and over 500 people signed up to make towels or lead groups. Keep them coming!

If you have photos of your group participating in Craft Hope or media you’ve received we’d love to share it. Please send them to me at jade@crafthope.com. Thanks to everyone involved in Craft Hope.

Also, if you are sending more than 10 towels please count them and put a total someplace in the box. That would help us out so much!!

Spread hope!

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As of this time (7/20/2010) we have suspended donations due to meeting the needs of the gulf coast rescue organizations! Please email jade at jade@crafthope.com if you have questions. Thanks so much!

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Updated 8/2/2010 – If you have made towels, please send them to us at: Craft Hope, P.O. Box 341771, Austin, Texas, 78734

Due to the overwhelming response to Project 8 :: Gulf Coast Oil Spill, The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies will be sharing the donations with the Audubon Nature Institute and the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge. Now we will not only be supporting the clean up efforts of the dolphins and turtles, but of other marine mammals and birds as well. Keep those donations coming!

To sign up for Project 8, please leave a comment in this post. A huge thank you to everyone who has signed up and helped to spread the word. You are making a difference! If you prefer to make a monetary donation to the IMMS, please click on this link. Thanks so much.

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As of this time (7/20/2010) we have suspended donations due to meeting the needs of the gulf coast rescue organizations! Please email jade at jade@crafthope.com if you have questions. Thanks so much!

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Updated 8/2/2010 – If you have made towels, please send them to us at: Craft Hope, P.O. Box 341771, Austin, Texas, 78734

We have had many questions about the type of soap to send along with your rags and washcloths for Project 8.  The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies requested bottles of Dawn. Animal rescue organizations choose Dawn because it removes the greasy oil while being gentle to delicate feathers and skin.

This year Dawn has a new campaign inspired to help you become an Everyday Wildlife Champion. When you buy a bottle of Dawn dishwashing liquid and go online to activate your donation using the bottle donation code printed on the bottom of your bottle, Dawn donates one dollar to it’s wildlife conservation partners. And just so you know, we have no deals with Dawn. We are just supporting a great cause and what the IMMS recommends. Super easy and continuing to support the clean up efforts of the gulf coast oil spill. If you would like to send a bottle of Dawn with your towels and rags we would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks to everyone who has already signed up to be a part of Project 8. We are completely humbled and honored by your willingness to help out!

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As of this time (7/20/2010) we have suspended donations due to meeting the needs of the gulf coast rescue organizations! Please email jade at jade@crafthope.com if you have questions. Thanks so much!

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Updated 8/2/2010 – If you have made towels, please send them to us at: Craft Hope, P.O. Box 341771, Austin, Texas, 78734

We’ve had some really great questions about the towels to be donated to Project 8. The Gulf Coast Oil Spill post has been updated with ‘frequently asked questions’ so you might be able to find some answers there. We’d love to encourage you to repurpose materials if at all possible. You can cut up old sheets, t-shirts, or towels to make the rags. Please do!

This is a photo of the oil covered turtles when The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies rescues them. So heartbreaking. Underneath the turtles are the towels used to transport the turtles and you can see they are incredibly dirty. Do not worry about the appearances of your towels and rags. They do not have to be pretty, they are saving the lives of dolphins and turtles and appearances do not matter.

While we can’t all go and cap the oil leak or clean it up with our bare hands, we can do little things that will make a big difference to our world. Thank you to everyone who has signed up to participate in Project 8. If you like to sign up, please leave a comment on this post.

“We can not do great things. We can only do little things with great love.” — Mother Teresa

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As of this time (7/20/2010) we have suspended donations due to meeting the needs of the gulf coast rescue organizations! Please email jade at jade@crafthope.com if you have questions. Thanks so much!

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Updated 8/2/2010 – If you have made towels, please send them to us at: Craft Hope, P.O. Box 341771, Austin, Texas, 78734

I have sat transfixed to my computer. Clicking image upon image of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. I have watched a video of Jacques Cousteau’s grandson diving in the toxic mess to show us what it’s really like underwater. Being a scuba diver and lover of the ocean I am sick to my stomach with the images. The Louisiana marsh lands are being destroyed. The fragile ecosystem is losing it’s fight. The fishermen and communities who worked so hard to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina have once again been dealt another blow. The beautiful white sand beaches in the Florida panhandle will soon be covered with oil. It’s devastating.

It’s so easy to feel helpless. The ‘what can I do’ enters your mind. I’ve sat for the past few days feeling that way. Thinking about the Craft Hope community and what we can do. Talking to the Craft Hope community on Facebook. Throwing the idea out there and watching the ideas come in. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this community is amazing. I have witnessed lives changed on both ends of the spectrum through Craft Hope. People stepping up to help lead a project. People giving handmade goods to strangers. People whose lives have been touched through the kindness of strangers. Two worlds coming together and the result is simply beautiful.

For Project 8 we will be partnering with The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, the Audubon Nature Institute, and the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge to assist them in their efforts in caring for and cleaning oiled marine mammals, mostly dolphins, other marine mammals, birds, and sea turtles. Dolphins are naturally curious and have been swimming toward the oil plumes to investigate… and that curiosity gets them in a lot of trouble against the oil slick.

So here is what we are going to do… They need hand towels and wash rags to clean all of the nooks and crannies of the dolphins and sea turtles. They only need small hand towels and wash rags, no large towels please.

If you can sew, knit, or crochet this project is for you. We are asking that you create sets of hand towels and/or wash rags to send. Preferably in sets of 10 or 20. These do need to be handmade since we are ‘Craft Hope.’ If you are crocheting or knitting, please send whatever you can. You don’t have to send a set unless it is something you are up for.

Please be aware that these donations do not have to be anything fancy. If anything, the towels and rags will be used two to three times and will have to be disposed of because they will be ruined by the toxic oil residue.

Also, if you are sending more than 10 towels please count them and put a total someplace in the box. That would help us out so much!!

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.

If you would like to add something else to your donation, please include a bottle of Dawn dish washing liquid.

A HUGE thank you to Kimberly who is an incredibly talented artist living in the Pensacola area who felt led to step up and help with this project. She helped to coordinate this project and will be collecting the items and hand delivering them for us.  She’ll also be helping me answer questions here and on our Facebook page.

The deadline for Project 8 is the end of August!

As of this time (7/20/2010) we have suspended donations due to meeting the needs of the gulf coast rescue organizations! Please email jade at jade@crafthope.com if you have questions. Thanks so much!

Please leave a comment on this post if you would like to participate. Thanks for all you do, you make the world a better place!

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(Updated 6/4/2010)

Everyone at IMMS is beyond excited over the amazing response from Craft Hope. If the donation level is so great that it exceeds what they can hold in stock at their facilities, that they will be sharing the donations with the Coastal Wildlife Refuges and other Coastal Wildlife Non-Profit Groups.  So these donations not only will be impacting one organization such as IMMS but will be impacting so many others along the Gulf Coast!!!!

I’d also like to say that, if anyone lives near the Pensacola / Panhandle area, and you would like to personally drop off your donations to Kimberly,  please feel free to send her an email at: midnightdesignstudio[at]gmail[dot]com and she’ll be happy to coordinate her schedule with you for donation drop-off times.

Frequently Asked Questions:

I’d love to help! For knitting and crocheting, would cotton or acrylic yarn be better?
K – For knit/crochet – Cotton fibers would be best. I was not sure if such was available. But Cotton is most natural and the folks at IMMS said that would be the best choice and most absorbent… They weren’t sure if acrylic yarn would be as absorbant since its never been used before in oil clean-up… however, they said they will happily accept either and put it to the test!  But cotton fibers are recommended..

Can they be as simple as flannel or terry cloth with serged edges?

Yes! Absolutely. Just as long as the rags are in the specified sizes, and are soft enough for your own skin, or I’d like to say, if you feel safe washing a baby with it, then yes simple as flannel and terry cloth would be fine!

What about hand mits made out of terry cloth? They might be easier to scrub with?

The researchers and staff wear medical gloves when cleaning so that the toxic oil residue will not leech into their skin, making them sick. They thought the hand mitts were a great idea, and could be slipped over the medical gloves during washing. So they would happily accept donations for those as well if anyone felt up to the challenge of making those.

Quick question… if I get towels already made should I wash them before sending them?

K – You can if you would like, but it is not necessary. Those towels are about to get beyond dirtier than you ever imagined. So if you want to save on the water and detergent, you can. But if you just want to throw them in the wash, you can. It’s what ever you want to do!

We use repurposed cotton knit for face wipes in our house – not even sewn, just cut up. they don’t fray after washing (and these would be thrown out anyway, right?). Would that work? What dimensions would be best? I have a whole bunch that are ‘hand-sized’ i’d love to send. And it’s super easy to buy 100% cotton knit sheets from the goodwill and cut them into pieces. What do you think?

Yes! Those would work. And the Cotton Goodwill sheets cut down would work. Cotton is the top #1 choice of all fiber for this project since it is the most absorbent. #1.5 – Terry Cloth… However they will gladly accept all kinds of fibers and put it to the test! The dimensions are – Hand Towel Size and Wash Rag size.

I was thinking about using some t-shirts the kids have grown out of. The backs are plain with no writing/pictures. Do you think that would be good?

Yes! I would think that the plain back size would work best since, the sides with the pictures on them, may not be as absorbent as the plainer counterpart. And I also think that is a clever way to re purpose old cotton clothing!!

Quick question. My mother would love to help out, but she can’t sew, crochet, knit, etc. Could she make wash rags with the edges that you tie together?

Yes! That would be fine! And I would gladly accept any towel/rag donation that she feels the need to send. While yes, it is Craft Hope and its about being handmade, I don’t have the heart to turn away other donations as well, so send it! They need it! And I’ll bring it!!!

I know it was mentioned that these need to be small, but that is kind of a relative term. Do you have dimensions that we could go by for the washrags and handtowels? Are we talking baby sized washcloths or just your average sized ones for adults? And towels – kitchen handtowel sized?

Washrags are approximately 10×10 square. Hand towels are approximately 14×27.

With the change in the oil spill information and the possibility of it spreading, will items be needed after the July deadline?

Even though the deadline is July 3rd, Kimberly will gladly continue to accept any donations after that date! Clearly this is going to be a long term event. And she will continue to accept donations as long as anyone is willing to continue to donate.

Are there recommended materials for sewing towels from? I’m trying to think about what would be most absorbent…
Cotton!!!. IMMS said that Cotton is their #1 choice of fiber when it comes to cleaning. It is most natural, beyond absorbent and is really durable!
Terry Cloth is an equal in that category as well… It also cleans well, absorbent and durable!
However, They also  will gladly accept other fibers as well.

I hope this answers a lot of the questions. Keep them coming! I am so proud of everyone!
It moves my heart and brings tears to my eyes! You all are so amazing!!!

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Updated 7/26/2010 – This project has ended! Please visit the website for our current project. Thanks to everyone who participated. We collected over 70,000 towels!!!

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Updated 8/2/2010 – If you have made towels, please send them to us at: Craft Hope, P.O. Box 341771, Austin, Texas, 78734