Sending Deb Away To Bless

Today I want to introduce you to four things that are important to me and if you're in The Sisterhood I especially hope that you will read this post and respond to it. Let it move you.

Those four things involve two beautiful ladies and two quilts. As I write this my heart is pounding.

First let me introduce you to Deb:

Deb is a full time Mum and Student and she is honestly one of the Kindest (capital K) women that I have ever met. Her Kindness seeps through her whole soul. A minute with her will leave you feeling blessed. She has been an active member of The Sisterhood for about a year now and I consider her to be one of our greatest supporters. When Deb put a public call out for help this weekend I heard my own spirit respond YES. Lets help.

Now let me introduce you to my Kindness Quilt:

 In February when we ran our National Sisterhood Kindness Day Deb told me on the 16th of February that I should go around to her home because she had a gift for me. I did, and it was an absolutely beautiful and huge handmade quilt for me and my family to snuggle under.

I had followed her journey making in on Instagram - She had constructed it from all the scraps in her fabric stash, she often commented on how mismatched it was, referring to it as a "vomit quilt" but I was in love with it.

To me it expressed how so many tiny pieces of fabric that were "left overs" could be joined together to make something meaningful that had a purpose: A real visual picture of The Sisterhood. Deb wanted to give it to me so she had it quilted and bound and bundled it up and trusted it to my care on Kindness Day. It keeps us warm at night on our bed and I am so often reminded how The Sisterhood warms other peoples lives too. I'm reminded that Deb used what she had, her amazing talent for quilting to warm our family.

I feel so utterly blessed by this quilt, and its not the only one that Deb has ever given away. She is -always- using her talents with the sewing machine to bless others.

Now let me introduce you to Cam

Cam lives in Australia, I don't know her personally but Deb has been friends with her for a while now through the online crafting community. Deb and Cam met in December this year. At the time Cam was breathing through oxygen tanks and was waiting for a double lung transplant. Deb loves Cam, Deb prayed for Cam, and when Cam finally received her life saving transplant last month Deb did what she does best.

She made a quilt.

Let me introduce you to that quilt:

Its bright and colourful, just like Cam. And not just any quilt: Sewers and crafty people from around New Zealand who had been inspired by Cam sent Deb their quilt blocks, she sewed their names onto them all and turned them into this beautiful quilt.

It is made up of a whole community of love here in New Zealand to keep a friend in Australia warm while she recovers in rehab with her shiny new lungs. 

You can read Debs blog post about Cams quilt here. But make sure you come back to this one, I haven't finished yet! 

Isn't that so beautiful? I know that just like me, Cam will be blessed by this expression of love. 

And here's where The Sisterhood comes in. 

I see The Sisterhood playing a HUGE roll in resourcing others to bless, inspire and be kind. I am always looking for ways that WE could be those hands and feet, making the way for those who have gifts and talents, or ideas and passion, or who have a heart to be Kind to those around them.

Deb is one of those people. I want to use The Sisterhood to resource her and equip her, to help her in her Kindness mission.

Now that you have met all those involved, I hope you want to be a part of making something special happen, just like I do. 

Here's my big plan, and as I am about to type it I am nervous. So very nervous. But it is something I care deeply about so I am willing to go out of my comfort zone and put it out there.

I want The Sisterhood to fly Deb to Melbourne to hand deliver Cams quilt to her while she is in recovery.

I want Deb to humbly hand over the quilt (she will, trust me, I've witnessed it) and explain that women all over New Zealand joined together to make it happen. Women cut and sewed fabric, they embroidered messages and their names, and they joined their funds together so that when the quilt is handed over, hugs can be exchanged too (and Deb does give the best hugs).

Its saying "heres something we made" but also "we're here, we joined together, we made this happen so that we can support you".

Sure. We could pay for postage. We could wrap it up in a New Zealand post bag and hope it gets there.

But this quilt, this expression of Love needs more than that. It needs the smiles behind it, the physical support, the caring touches, the cups of tea and the meaningful conversation. And Deb is the one to do that.

I told Deb we'd do it. I told her we'd get her there. Because I really truly honestly believe that is the way it is supposed to happen. I told her to book flights. She believed me. She booked them. For THIS WEEKEND. (they were the cheapest for the next while)

It's going to cost us $567 to get her to melbourne and back safetly.

Which seems like a lot. It is for a Mum and a student. But thats the price of true friendship and support, and I believe if we all pull together and give something little, in the true Sisterhood way "we can achieve something great"

And we do. All the time. We always achieve greatness, and its always the scary commitments, the ones that seem too big, that work out the best because we have to step out of our comfort zones to make it happen.

Will you help us? Will you join with us?

Debs going to Melbourne this weekend to hand deliver this handmade quilt.

This week we will be raising money to get her there. $567. We can do it. 

HERES HOW YOU DO IT:

You can transfer money to The Sisterhood account BEFORE Friday 5th April 2013.

ASB: 12-3149-0209199-13

The amount you give doesn't really matter - I believe if everyone gave something little there would be MORE than enough, always. Please dont feel like your contribution isn't worth it. It is. 

I will be updating the Facebook Page every night with what has been raised so far. 

When you do, please email me on sophie@moo2.co.nz to let me know you have done so, because sometimes transfers take a few days to appear and I want to know what is coming in so we will know if we hit our target or not. 

If by chance MORE money is raised, we'll buy Cam something nice and anything left over will be used for future Sisterhood projects. 100% of the money raised will be for The Sisterhood.

Please be aware that as of right now (we are working on it for the future) we are not a charitable organisation. You can't claim tax back from this. :)

God bless you Sisters. I know you will astound and amaze me. I know your generosity will bring tears to Deb and will fill Cams shiny new lungs with belief in the Goodness of others.

Sunday Night 31/3/2013 UPDATE::
Total raised so far: $664As I said in my post, any extra money raised will go towards a gift for Cam / be used for future Sisterhood projects. Deb has suggested that as a gift we buy Cam a bike, which she has wanted for so long, as a celebration of her new lungs! 



I linked this post in with I Bequeath Love to celebrate friendship