Creative Leisure News - Kate's Collage

Insights on business, and practical ways to improve your own.

Charitable Opportunities For All

Play golf, quilt, knit, scrap, stamp, paint � all for good causes.

by Mike Hartnett (August 7, 2006)

It's a good feeling to know that so often, when people want to help other people, they turn to our industry's products. There's at least one event/promotion/activity listed below for everyone in the industry.

Craft & Hobby Association.

The annual CHA charity golf tournament will be held on Fri., Jan. 26 just prior to the Winter Show in Anaheim. All proceeds go to the CHA Foundation. It's for a great cause and a wonderful opportunity to have fun and network with colleagues and customers. Sponsorships are available. For info on sponsoring or participating, call Semo Sennas, 201-794-1133, ext. 218, or ssennas@craftanhobby.org.

Military.

Connect And Join is a new program for supporting U.S. troops overseas and their families at home. Sponsors include Epson and K & Company, which has developed a special scrapbook kit. Visit www.connectandjoin.com and www.americasupportsyou.mil.

Yarn.

Caps to the Capital is a new program designed to provide knit caps for babies in the developing world, where two million newborn babies die each year in the first 24 hours of life. To download step-by-step directions and a materials list, visit www.savethechildren.org or www.warmupamerica.org, or call 800-728-3843.

Quilts.

Quilts for Kids takes discarded fabrics and turns them into crib-sized, patchwork quilts for seriously ill and abused children. The six-year-old organization has 40 chapters in 27 states, plus Canada and the Bahamas. For more, visit www.quiltsforkids.org.

Stamps.

Hampton Art and Karen Neuburger of KN Ltd. have once again partnered to market "Think Pink rubber stamps and sets. for Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Visit www.hamptonart.com.

Art Materials.

The National Art Materials Trade Assn. Foundation raised $2,200+ at 2006 trade show through the sale of NAMTA logo items and giclee prints, and what is becoming an annual event, the NAMTA. party ( "Nocturnal Animals Meet Together Annually"). Funds raised are used to provide scholarships and grants made available through the NAMTA Foundation. For more info, email Renee Capstraw at foundation@namta.org.

The NAMTA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, whose mission is to recognize, promote and support initiatives that foster the creative and visual arts through contributions, planned giving, endowments, benevolences, grants and other revenue sources, which fund art projects, art-related research, art education, scholarships and emergency relief in crisis situations where art, artists, or art related enterprises are impacted by natural or manmade damage or destruction. Visit www.namtafoundation.org or call 704-892-6244.

Quilts.

Meredith's American Patchwork & Quilting magazine is sponsoring a Quilt Pink Day. Quilt shops hosting a Quilt Pink Day will be provided with turn-key promotional materials. On Quilt Pink Day, quilters will make pink-and-white quilt blocks at local quilt shops. The shops will piece together the blocks and send the finished quilts to the magazine for photography and an online auction slated for late spring 2007. Net proceeds will be presented to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and several quilts will be showcased in a softcover book, set for publication in the fall of 2007.

Meredith is promoting Quilt Pink Day through ads and editorial content in multiple magazines and several other vehicles, and through www.quiltpink.com. The magazine and sponsors will award prizes to three participating consumers from the Quilt Pink sponsors, including Husqvarna Viking, Moda Fabrics, Fiskars, C&T Publishing, The Fabric Shop Network, HORN of America, OTT-LITE, and Robison-Anton.

Quilt shops interested in participating should emailquiltpink@meredith.com or call 515-284-3575. For more info, visit www.quiltpink.com.

(Note: To read previous entries in Kate's Collage, click on the headlines in the right-hand column.)

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