What Can You Do To Help!

I have tried to structure this to be inclusive of everyone, regardless of skill, time or financial situation. I hope everyone can find something here that they are happy or comfortable with.

If you can sew –

Make a laundry bag.

We make two kinds of laundry bags, personalised bags and random bags. Generally, if we have the name and details of our recipient, we personalise the laundry bag with the members initials. If we have more information we can add personal details like favourite colours and hobbies etc. You can contact me if you want to make a personalised laundry bag and I will be able to give you the name of a recipient and their details. Alternatively, you could make a random laundry bags. Random laundry bags are those that have a white or cream patch on them for the recipient to put their details on. We make these bags to send when we do not have the details of the recipients. For example we have sent batches of bags to the troops on COVID Assist or Flood Assist and they have been much appreciated. Sometimes I can give you a name to send them to, but more often than not they will come to me to be delivered to a unit when the need arises.

A PDF copy of the instructions are available here.

Make a quilt.

Our quilts are 42″ wide, or width of standard quilting fabric, by 70-75″ long. Cotton batting must be used and binding may be machine or hand sewn. All quilts must have an Aussie Hero label on the back. You can print your own using printable fabric or hand write one using a pigma pen.

Once again, if you wish to make a personalised quilt you can contact me for the list of requests so that you can choose a recipient. If you wish to make a quilt of your own preference please post it to PO Box 248, Cherrybrook NSW 2126 on completion. It will be sent off when the appropriate recipient is available.

If you can’t sew –

Buy Spotlight Card – you can send Spotlight cards to me and I can pass them on to others who I know can use them. Or you can email me and ask me who to send it to – assuming you don’t know of someone in your area.

If you know of a group in your area that is sewing for Aussie Heroes you can also buy a gift voucher to your local quilt store.

Pre-paid post satchels are a great gift as we use lots of them when we send out quilts or laundry bags. We use the small and large size from Australia Post. Generally recipients pay for their own postage but we do not ask recipients of compassionate quilts or Fallen Warrior Quilts to pay for their postage. These can be bought in bulk from Australia Post.

We also use a lot of stamps sending satchels to the volunteers as well as sending crests and badges to volunteers so they can complete their bags and quilts.

Donations of fabric, calico for lining laundry bags and cord for laundry bags are always welcome. Once again if you don’t know someone in your area please email me and I will suggest someone for you to send it to.

With regard to fabric – if you want to buy fabric but are not a sewer then this is handy information –

  • For a quilt backing – buy 2.6m of 100% cotton fabric.
  • For a laundry bag – buy 1m calico for the lining and 1m of fabric suitable for the outer. Must be 100% cotton – patchwork fabric and twill are suitable. If you ask the shop assistant for patchwork fabric or a sturdy cotton, like twill or curtaining, they should be able to help you. If in doubt email me.

Donations of 45mm Rotary Cutter Blades would be wonderful!

Another good option is to buy Coles or Woolworths vouchers so that the quilters can buy the goodies to go into the boxes along with the quilts. If you live near a quilter then ask them what they need to include and then buy some of those items.

Non-sewers can also spread the word to local sewing/craft groups.

Finally, and probably most usefully, but also the hardest to ask for, is a cash donation to the bank account. This can be done by sending me a cheque or by a direct deposit in which case I will email you the details on request. We don’t need a huge amount of money in the bank but each roll of batting costs a few hundred dollars! Even small donations help.

We use LOTS of batting and rotary cutting blades as we complete lots of quilts here which need batting and backing.

I hope that helps.

Email address:

co*******@au**************.au











 

All assistance gratefully received.