The Sew Addicted Charity Sewing Club had the honor of hosting Kathy Thomason, a representative for the area chapter of the American Cancer Society. We were contacted by the charity when they read that what we, as a charity sewing group do, and asked if we could give them a hand. Of course, we said "yes".
Before we discussed what we could do for them, she told us what the American Cancer Society has done for others. Last year they gave 16,500 cancer survivors rides to treatment and their trained patient navigators helped 89,000 people understand their diagnosis and find the help they needed. In 2012 they saved 41,000 patients and their caregivers more than $26 Million in lodging costs by providing a free place for them to stay when they traveled for treatment. Since 1946, the ACS has invested more than $3.9 Billion in cancer research.
The American Cancer Society, (which is a different organization than the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure) also hosts a Relay for Life to raise money to do all the good work that they do. Every year nearly 4 million people come together for these events. A greater percentage of donation money goes toward research and patient support than for administration costs. This in itself says a lot about the charity.
A few weeks ago, Sew Addicted started work on a quilt that will be used to raise money for the organization. Today, we brainstormed and came up with some ideas to help.
Kathy, is a breast cancer survivor, and the one thing she found extremely helpful was the Breast Cancer Comfort Cushion (see pattern here). The cushion is helpful post-mastectomy to keep the arm off of the drains. We plan on making several of these.
I am a endometrial cancer survivor. I had a complete hysterectomy in 2010. Home made heating pads helped with the abdominal pain and ice packs made the hot flashes much easier to deal with. Both were made with rice and lavender. A great tutorial for making these can be found here on Youtube.
Another idea came from another Sew Addicted member. In her experience, her friends with cancer had a difficult time staying warm, especially while sitting for their chemotherapy. So she makes fleece socks for them. She demonstrated for us using a serger, how quickly they can be made, and she was kind enough to share her pattern.
If you would like to join in our efforts, please feel free to start at home and come to our next meeting at 10 am on the first Saturday of September. If you have any questions, please email us at kingsportsewvac@gmail.com, or call us at 423.246.4520. If you are part of a charity that could use our services, please email JC at the same email.
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