Dropped what I was doing and headed to the Barn today (Monday August 31st) as we had a visitor from Shanghai visiting QFO. Absolutely delighted to meet Jan, who came by to meet the quilters and to also fill us in on Mifan Mama and the Shining Star Foster Home for vision impaired children in Shanghai who we provided with quilts some time ago.
Shining Star, which opened in June 2012, operates from a Villa which is part of a residential complex, and is home to 8 children with vision impairments and some other health issues. There is a permanent staff of two ( a carer and a cleaner) as well as a team of volunteers who help with the various needs of the children. Shining Star developed under the 'umbrella' of Mifan Mama (founded in 2009) which has orphanages in four Provinces throughout China. Mifan Mama has provided rice, flour, strollers and walkers, clothing and toys and Boxes of Love during this time. See the website at www.mifanmama.com for further details of the wonderful work being done for the children by both Shining Star and the Mifan Mama organisation.
Below is a picture of young Tom, from Shining Star .... who has just been adopted ....
Are they some of our quilts I see on the beds above? .... :)
Jan is involved with fundraising for Shining Star and is a key motivator in the fundraising for the Boxes of Love, which provides 50,000 gift boxes (the size of shoeboxes) filled with toys, candy and food for every orphan for the Chinese New Year. Companies and individuals contribute to the 'ingredients' of these wonderful boxes.
As part of this fundraising there is a Gala event coming up and for this Jan visited the Quilters and we were more than happy to provide her with two lovely quilts to be part of the Silent Auction at the upcoming Gala. Visit http://mifanmama.com/gala.html to see pictures from the inaugural Gala in October of 2014.
We also gifted her some smaller quilts for the children in the Homes. These quilts were cot size to single bed size and we look forward to hearing that the children were well pleased with the fabric 'hugs' we sent back to Shanghai with Jan.
Jan then presented the quilters with Thank You gifts and a beautiful handmade card on behalf of Shining Star ..
So we bid farewell to Jan (and her friend & 'chauffeur' Barb) and wished her every success for the Gala fundraiser and the very best for Mifan Mama & Shining Star. Delighted to meet you .... travel safe.
We then set to some of the usual Monday tasks ... preparation for the next Working Bee and some 'housekeeping' tasks ... for our upcoming November Quilt Fair.
Deborah, hard at work creating price tags for our 'For Sale' quilts ..
Jenny sorting a roll of donated fabric into lengths for quilt backings.
Yvonnes awesome custom quilting .... think this one may be for sale ...
We also were extremely happy to receive a box of 29 wonderful quilt tops from Gayle in Rockhampton Queensland ...
Yvonne busily unpacking Gayles parcel .....
Gayle has been an awesome 'offsite stitcher' for QFO and we thank her so very much for the incredible amount of work she has put in for us with this awesome number of 'tops'. Look forward to showing them off further after they have been 'sandwiched' and quilted.
And that just about winds up this 'impromptu' extra Blogpost. Stay tuned for the next one ... which will hit cyberspace after our September Working Bee at the Barn ..
Till then, blessings to all ...
Susan :)
Comments