Happy 2017 … keep on or… start weaving!
Thanks to all the weavers, thanks to all the groups coordinators and many many thanks to the volunteers who pick up and deliver finished mats
So far you have donated your time to make and deliver 12, 306 + mats!
From 2008 to 2105 : 6,577 mats were crocheted or weaved and now, in 2016 we counted 5,729!
Angela’s goal for the year of collecting and sharing 4032 mats ( 2016 X 2). The number above was even exceed due to many of you delivering mats which were not counted, to the Canadian Food for Children Warehouse and to the Ottawa Group. led by Danielle Duval- Conway/
They were sent all over the world and shared with the homeless in the GTA and Aurora. Angela wants to say a huge thank you for all your work and pat you on the back for your contribution of time and energy. It is amazing how our initiative has grown by your dedication to our cause. With very little money and the only the donated time from all our volunteers, we have become known around the world. The Canadian Food for Children organization deserves some enormous thanks from all of us. It is mostly thanks to them receiving and shipping the mats, that they get to the most needy destinations in the world. This winter, the” Out of the Cold ” program is once again back on board to supply local homeless people with mats to sleep on.
You probably all know the mats go, but we want to now tell you from where people are weaving from here in Canada. Here is a list and I know there are people weaving in places I don’t even know of, so please forgive me if I don’t mention your town/city. Barrie, Belleville, Bolton, Brampton, Brantford, Caledon, Cambridge, London, St Catharines, Hamilton, Burlington, Waterloo, Durham, Coburg, Etobicoke, Georgetown, Hamilton, Keswick, Kirkland Lake, Mississauga, , Newmarket, Ottawa, Richmond Hill, Scarborough, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Tottenham, Woodbridge New Brunswick, and Saskatchewan.
Requests to participate by donating bags, starting new weaving groups come in every day. We get new weaving groups, but we also lose some. Church and school weavers get bored with the same old project and move on to some new cause. Yet, the need for mats are bigger than ever.
As Angela puts it: “I’ve come to see that we are like a business, if you lose a customer, we need to gain a new one. “
Encourage people in any workplace, church, school, ladies’ groups or retirement home to join our weaving team. Tell them that they will not only help the needy around the world but that they will help to save the planet from milk bags plastic which will not disintegrate in the landfills. If we estimate how many bags have been kept out of the landfill, it’s close to 7 million bags, which is an amazing number, considering most of them have gone thru Angela’s garage!
We currently have close to a million bags, and more coming, that are waiting to be woven. The monthly “pick-up your bags day” will be Tuesday, January 17, 2017.
It is a good idea to e mail: info@milkbagsunlimited.ca and let Angela know that you will be bringing mats and/ or pick up bags for weaving.
Best wishes and blessing to all for 2017,
from Angela, Founder and Leader of MILKBAGSunlimited & Bettina Administration- Communications
