Please Help Okanogan County, Please Send Quilts!

Our fires are out of control, our firefighters are exhausted, the US Army is training soldiers how to fight fires to relieve our fire fighters and today we learned that hotshot teams from Australia and New Zealand are on their way to help us.

I live over five and a half hours away from the fires in Okanogan County, over 296 miles and this is what it looks like from my front porch just a few minutes ago.

No, my neighbor does not have a fire going in his yard

Smoke hanging in the trees and the hazy sky

 We need your help! The residents who live in these areas are being evacuated daily, they do not know if their homes are still standing or where they will go if they are not.  Their animals are displaced, they can't go to work and the fires rage on.

If you are reading this, if your skies are blue, if you are blessed to be in your home right now and if you can quilt, knit or crochet, I am begging you to help us get blankets to these families, to the exhausted hotshot teams and fire fighters....PLEASE HELP!!

The sun engulfed in smoke

The sun in a hazy sky

 I have only heard of things like this in my life time. My mom lived through it years ago when northern CA was on fire, they packed their RV drove it to a safer location, packed their old Mercury and then sealed their windows and doors and waited to be evacuated.
Lucky for them, the fires did not reach their town.

All around us are smaller fires, a family in Onalaska lost their entire chicken farm when it burnt to the ground this week. People are watering their lawns trying to keep them from going up just from lawn mower sparks.

Can you see the sun clearly? Are your skies blue? Can you breath in fresh air?  If you said yes, please, please consider sending quilts so I can get them up to these areas.

Know this about Okanogan County, it is the largest county land wise in our state, however, population wise, it is not. So these people losing homes, will not have an apartment to rent, a house to purchase, a friend to go to because there aren't any and sadly this is the second year in a row this county has been devastated.

Please, mail quilts, blankets to:
Layers of Hope - Quilting 911
18740 Ivan Street SW
Rochester, WA  98579

Yes, Red Cross is in the area, but I saw how Red Cross operates and FEMA in these areas when the Oso landslide hit last year. The swoop in, set up camp, help for a few days to a few weeks and are gone again to help the next disaster.

Your quilts will last forever and be a blessing to those who receive them!

Help Okanogan County with a Quilt or Donation

I don't like just taking money and giving nothing back, it kind of doesn't feel right to me.

I know many of you do not have time to quilt or make blankets, who does with school and work banging at our doors all the time?

But for a few dollars, you can help support Layers of Hope - Quilting 911 to get quilts to those in Okanogan County, simply by heading over to our Etsy shop and making a small purchase.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LayersofHope?ref=hdr_shop_menu 

We have quilts, bags, hats and lots of key fobs to choose from and stuff is being added frequently.

I just added Paypal to my Etsy site to make it easier.

Thank You From Twisp and Room One!

On The Road to Okanogan County

So many feelings and thoughts racing through my mind right now and knowing that God truly is blessing and wanting me to continue this ministry.

This morning, going through the closets and seeing about the only quilts I have left are for babies and small children, I prayed and said, Lord, I can't do this alone we have so many quilts still needing to be sent and the bins are empty, I think it is time to say good-bye to Layers of Hope and move forward.

Can I say, God works miracles? Normally I do not answer calls from Private Caller, however, I am expecting a call from a counselor and thought perhaps it was her.

Instead, it was a Disaster Case Manager calling me from Room One
a non-profit organization located in Twisp, WA in Okanogan County and the disaster center for those that lost all in the Carlton Complex Fire last summer.

On November 1, 2014, a friend of mine left our homes and drove to Okanogan County and delivered quilts to many of the agencies (police and fire) that helped with the fires as well as to the local hospital who needed supplies and dropped off for Room One.

It is during these times, I gather quilts, I deliver or mail quilts, you mail quilts and we move on to the next need. If we get a thank you, I always pass them on and if we don't, I totally understand people are trying to rebuild their lives, they don't have time for thank you notes.

The woman on the phone told me, the quilts we took up to the area, the boxes of quilts the families who lost everything got to go through meant more to these families than a $5000 check to repair their home because it was the first thing many of them received to give them hope.

The quilts she said many times opened the flood gates of emotions these families were holding in because it showed them the compassion of strangers and most of the times it was the first thing that was theirs to keep and hand onto since they lost their homes.

The quilts were the best thing that happened to these people I was told and she only wished I could see the smiles, the tears and feel the joy she has been able to see and feel as the families come in and go through the boxes to pick out the quilt that fits them whether it is color, quilt pattern, theme, it is something that is theirs and she said they are so overwhelmed and thankful.

To all of you, who continue to support Layers of Hope - Quilting 911 with quilts, with fabric, with prayers, you have my deepest love and admiration and thanks from my heart, God Bles