Donations

The other week I met my aunts at a local Christian Aid Ministries (CAM) warehouse and we made diapers and baby blankets.

When my mom first told me about this, I was a little confused, "Why would you need to MAKE 

diapers?" They are available all neatly packaged in plastic already sewn and folded.

(Yeah, I know they also come in "disposable" too but you can't re-use them)

CAM has a program where you can put together a "layette bundle", it includes 

a few items of baby clothes, 6 cloth diapers, a receiving blanket (lightweight) and a heavier blanket.

All items are to be new, it says that on the literature.

I used to be a little bit annoyed about the "all new" idea, thinking "if it would be good enough for my baby, why isn't it good enough for their babies?"

I found out the reason, it has to do with shipping regulations, CAM has to say what is in each shipment going to a country and they have to be honest.

AND it costs the same to ship new items as it does used ones, so why not get the most out of each dollar.

These bundles are quite fun to put together, you get to shop for baby clothes!

They are also quite fun to hand to a new mother, according to my niece who helped to hand these packages to new mothers in Liberia.

BUT!

The reason my mom and aunts spent a day making diapers and blankets is because  well-intentioned  donors in an effort to save money are giving un-shippable products.

Each bundle is examined before it is shipped and a quality control person checks that the correct number of diapers, clothing items, and blankets are included.

Diapers that are very thin are worthless to send and end up needing to be replaced 

Baby blankets that have skull and cross bones on are.... also replaced

It is such a shame to let good quality fabric go to waste, but before you go to the work to craft a baby blanket for someone, take a look at the print on the fabric.          

...bones are probably not a good idea

strange looking cartoon characters with or without x-ray images,

strange looking beat up women, or zombie fabrics are just not cool.

(The zombie fabric is the only one that has actually not shown up...yet)

I know there are enough of CAM donors that read this that it is worth sticking my neck out. I guess through this I learned that it is important to follow the directions of any organization when you give this type of donation, they have reasons for their "rules".