Crafting for Courage

What a difference a week can make. Just a few days ago, the branches of trees and bushes seemed naked. The world was brown and bare. This week the flowering trees are solid with reds and pinks, and the forsythia is ablaze with a golden fire. Spring, like hope, can sneak up on you like that.

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last week, there was such a level of destruction that it seemed beyond the repair of human hands. The threat of a nuclear catastrophe still hangs over Japan and the world. Yet people in the most heavily affected areas are returning to their jobs, lining up for food in makeshift markets, salvaging bits and pieces of their possessions--returning to some semblance of normal life. Hope blossoms in the mundane.

Hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes in the disaster and are living in schools and other temporary shelters, some still without electricity. Save the Children estimates that 100,000 children were directly affected by the disaster, losing family members and homes. The organization has set up child-friendly shelters to help children recover from the trauma they have experienced.

I can't begin to imagine the fear, anxiety, and the loss of a sense of security that this disaster must have brought to these children. But I want to help in some small way to lessen their pain, to offer some hope.

The Crafting for Courage online sale begins tomorrow, Thursday, March 24, and will run until Monday, March 28. By buying a handcrafted item or two from the Crafting for Courage participants, you can support the efforts of Save the Children to bring hope to the children directly affected by the quake and tsunami.

All items will be presented on the Crafting for Courage blog, with links to the Etsy or other online shops to purchase the items. All of the proceeds from the sales will be donated by the sellers directly to the Save the Children relief fund. Click back here tomorrow for a link to the Crafting for Courage site.

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Thank you so much for all of your kind comments about the felted-sweater bunnies, which I'll be donating to the Crafting for Courage online sale. I have had several pre-orders from friends (thank you, Zee, Monica, and Wanda!), and I'm stitching as fast as I can to have some ready to sell in my Etsy shop on Thursday. It is a joy to put together the cheerful colors and to see the personality of each bunny emerge as I stitch. Here are a few sneak peeks of the bunnies.

Hope to "see" you tomorrow at the sale!