Beyond Binkies, Code and Make-Believe

Binky Patrol Celebrates 13 Years

 Thirteen years ago I had an idea. I wanted an easy way to volunteer to help children who are in shelters.  I was inspired by a battered women's shelter, Human Options in Irvine, California.  I wanted to spend time helping these children but I couldn't make it fit with their training schedule. 

At the time, I had an art gallery in Laguna Beach which took 12 hours day.  My mom had wanted to volunteer and spend more time with me so she had the idea that I would teach her how to sew blankets.  I hadn't really sewn since Miss Makino's Home Ec class in 7th grade.  But I was involved with a few friends hand-sewing projects for each other. I approached them about helping others instead.  They weren't interested.  So much for that group. I was on my own and starting from scratch. 

I contacted my local framer for the gallery and they said I could have their left over matting fabric. It was odd fabric in blacks, blues and greens because they did a lot of framing for Wyland and Dale TerBush.  Our first binkies were odd.  I put a sign up sheet in front of my gallery and ended up with four volunteers.  Three of which became officers in what became, Binky Patrol Comforting Covers for Kids. We also received a ton of great fabrics from BB Dakota, Hoffman Fabrics and more!

It didn't hurt that Oprah's "peoople" took a shine to my idea and "mentioned" it on her show.  We had 800+ phone calls and we went national within our first month.  It was amazing.

Some of our first events included a golf tournament that a few friends I grew up with helped organize. They were dears and behind this effort 100%.  Debra and Joe Torturo, Issac and Randee Grosso and others.  Wahoo's Fish Taco fed us since the beginning and here we are.  Read more here >>

Daisy, daisy, set the table

Some are losing faith in our youth and their ability to carry themselves in social situations that involve people over 40.  Don't despair.  I had my faith renewed tonight while having the honor to help some Daisy Scouts earn their first Brownie patch. 

The girls will be "bridging" to become Brownies in June.  They had to choose one project from the Brownie book.  We parents decided manners would be a good start.  We were all pleasantly surprised. 

The Bench is Ours

Careful what you bid for - you may get it. Thank goodness I only won one of the items we were bidding on.  We're all celebrating.  Our daughter was telling everyone at church that we won the bench.  They looked at her sideways until she explained while pogo-sticking as she told of the entire creation of the bench.

We procured the bench at the school auction.  We hunter-gathered and hauled it back. We're really tired of moving this thing.  We'll let it rest in the courtyard for a few months before we decide the final location - exactly.  Spring will mean filling in the courtyard behind the bench with something wispy and tall - oh - and low maintenance since I seem to kill everything.

This started out as a way to create a great auction project to raise money for our school arts programs.  Tom built the form from scratch with a plan he found on line.  The children in our daughter's class created the butterfly tiles.  We're fortunate to have a lot of glass and a small kiln at school.  We came up with butterflies because they take fewer cuts and the children could decorate them with frit (glass boogers and crumbs).  We fired them in two firings and added the edge pieces. Our four-year-old helped me with the edge pieces. He's particularly fond of the Eric-Carle-inspired caterpillar in the front.  We will treasure this always.

I think I'm most grateful that we don't have to go through a variation on this process again due to losing THIS one at the auction.  Whew!

A season of giving - once a week.

My brother is joining us for Thanksgiving. We are all very excited. Preparations have begun.  The floor has officially been christened for the holiday season.  We were blessed to truly start the season with a visit to the Good Neighbor Center in Tigard.  We've made and delivered pumpkin bread to older neighbors and teachers.  Cranberry bread is in the oven and we have the recipes out for Special Pecan Pie - pecan and cranberries, and mom's apple pie.  Time to offset the sugar and abundance by helping others.

Good Neighbor Center - Tigard, Oregon

What a great way to welcome the Thanksgiving Holiday. We had the privilege today of delivering 40 blankets, toys, baskets, baby gear to the Good Neighbor Center & Shelter in Tigard Oregon.  This was the follow up to the Bink-A-Thon last month:  http://www.binkypatrol.org to learn more.

Girl Scout Troop (#iforget) joined us for this special outing after helping make baskets of toys and binkies.

3 + 3 + 8 = 30 Bink-A-Thon

Today was the first Bink-a-thon in Beaverton. It's the 12th for the nation.  Binky Patrol Comforting Covers for Kids is a national non-profit, all volunteer organization dedicated to making and giving binkies to children and teens in need of comfort.  Today is National Make a Difference Day and it is celebrated by gathering as many people as each chapter can to make as many binkies as possible on this one day.  We made 30!