Saturday, May 25, 2013

Where Would We Be Without all our Terrific Volunteers?


Where would we be without all of our terrific volunteers?  So many thanks to those of you who donate so generously, who share information with your friends about how they can give to TWC and how they can join and just what donations we accept, who are constantly thinking up great ideas to make our collective lives easier and who continue to hold a special place in your hearts for those less fortunate.  As difficult as it can be at times, we remind ourselves often that we are not in this for any other reason than to help those in need.  

And so...we would like to invite all our volunteers to a pizza party at Roccos on Wednesday, June 5th at 7 PM as a thank you for all you do.  We will provide pizza and salads and a few of us will bring a bottle of wine as the corkage fee is $10, so we think it would cost less to do it that way.  Please let us know as soon as you can if you can make it via an email (linilsley@gmail.com or kfswood@gmail.com) or by phone 310.455.3850 or 310.455.1929.

And there are others to thank...there have been some angels in our little charity whose good deeds would go unsung unless we let you know about them.

Firstly, we would like to thank June Mayne who passed away not too long ago and was a special friend and client of Karen's for over 20 years.  June worked as a child development specialist at Cedars Sinai before retiring in the late 80s.  Because of her fundamental interest in child development, she believed strongly in the importance of the work of TWC and gave generously to our cause.  We will miss her support and encouragement.  She was a lovely woman.

And then last week when Karen and Mary were pulling for a set-up, Brian Gibson from Jalan Jalan stopped by, saying he had been curious about the Bin and just what it is that we do.  After being given a tour, he invited Mary and Karen to come back to JJ with him and he passed on some sweet donations that will add a touch of the exotic to the set-ups.

Here is another wonderful little story.  A gal in one of Karen's yoga classes heard about TWC.  We do tend to share (!) and brought a doll to class one day.  She had obviously been well-loved, needed some scrubbing up and definitely some help with her hair which was all matted and dirty. Karen got her clean but she still looked pretty sad and then she remembered that her neighbor, Elsie Stenson, used to make dolls, so she wandered across the street with a question for Elsie...What can we do with this doll's hair? Well, Elsie thought for a minute and said that she just may have a wig out in her shed, left over from years ago.  A few days later she called Karen and asked her to bring the doll on over because she found something that just might work.  In the style of Shirley Temple's ringlets, this wig was a perfect fit, but the first thing Karen was instructed to do was to cut off all the old hair on the doll in order to fit the wig properly.  As Karen said, she gave this doll a haircut that took longer than any haircut she ever gave in her professional career! Following Elsies careful instructions to  work from front to back and to keep the wig as straight as possible, she stretched and glued and pulled and glued some more.  All Karen remembers is that it took a very L O N G time!  Here are some before and after pictures!

awww...poor little thing and then...what a beauty!
Named Baby Dena after the donor who gave her to us.



And then Mary Morley had a great idea...she had an unused doll cradle in her basement that needed a little refinishing and some bedding and then look what she did!  I wish this picture was a little bigger but if you click on the picture for a better view! I am sure little Eioni is thrilled with her new doll.

Thank you also to Dana Briskman for referring her neighbor to TWC.  She donated the most wonderful books and stuffed animals and kids clothing...box after box was delivered on Thursday and Karen and I got most of it put away while we pulled for yesterday's set-up.

And now on to this week's set-ups at Westwood. A big thank you to Pat Lester, Deborah Kashinsky and Wendy Skolfield for their perishable donations, to Barbara Waldman for donating the always needed cleaning supplies and personal grooming supplies and to new volunteer Randi Gottlieb for the art goodies.  I love the idea of including anything creative with every set-up so please keep this in mind when you pass a box of crayons or markers or drawing paper in the store!

And now some pictures! Lots of pictures of Margie because we are SO happy she is in full fighting form again!

New volunteer Randi Gottlieb and her friend and TWC uber-volunteer Nancy Hanson. Randi has been in the Canyon a year and was looking for some volunteer work and the rest is history (thanks, Nancy!). She needed no guidance and I know will be a great addition to TWC.

Holly and Margie

Karen and Margie

How many gals does it take to hang a butterfly?! How cute is this?
New pjs on each girls bed, too.  I love new pjs for the kids.


Open for business!

Love it when we set the table

Artfully placed throw to cover an imperfection in the couch. One of our great rug finds from Ikea.

The merry crew, including from left: Margie, Nancy, Holly, Randi and Mary and 
Karen behind the camera.


Set-Up #2 for a Veteran Mom and her Teenaged Daughter

Karen and I whipped through this little two-bedroom set-up
in record time finishing early as we had an 11 AM meeting in Venice.

 A lamp from Jalan Jalan

 Ready for action

So true

 A full cupboard thanks to the wonderful donations

All of these items should be part of our regular set-up

Peeking into the teenaged girls room.  I love the bright Ikea bedspread

Moms Room...a little more serene

The bathroom they will share



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