Grandma’s Lap has grown by leaps and bounds
It has been nearly five years since my daughter and I founded Grandma’s Lap, a charity started in memory of my mom (and my daughter’s grandma), who passed away from complications of kidney disease. It’s hard to believe that it has been more than five years since my mom passed away, but time seems to be moving so quickly anymore.
In the time since our founding, we have grown from making all the blankets ourselves and storing them in my living room to having a network of nearly 50 volunteers, holding monthly board meetings in our rented office, and having given out nearly 2,500 blankets. I think she would be a little bit overwhelmed at the number of people who have heard her name, but I think she would be proud of the work we have done to bring comfort to other people who suffer similarly to how she did.
Most of our funding comes from fundraisers, although we have a few very faithful donors who send us money and supplies, as well. We largely funded last year’s 400-plus blankets by selling Sarris chocolate bars. This has worked, but when sales are slow (like in January when everyone is trying to get fit), we worry about how to pay for things. So, this year we have decided to do things a little bit differently.
It seems that everyone knows someone affected by kidney disease, dialysis or kidney cancer. So, in addition to the impersonal funding from the candy, we are going to do a monthly event, raffle or party. We want to provide some opportunities for interested persons to visit our offices, to meet our board members, and/or to see Grandma’s Lap on a more personal level. To that end, this Saturday, Jan. 12, we are hosting a scrapbook crop at Bethel Church in Prosperity.
Participants will enjoy 12 hours of uninterrupted crafting fun (scrapbooking, card-making, quilting – if you can bring your supplies, we will try to accommodate you!), two meals provided by Grandma’s Lap, and innumerable snacks. The $30 entrance fee goes toward funding our endeavors this year. This money permits us to distribute supplies to those who want to make blankets for us but cannot afford to purchase all the materials. It permits us to buy the laundry supplies needed – every blanket is washed before packing – the bags we pack them in, and a note inside each blanket telling the recipient who made the blanket they received.
We have also had several large blankets donated to us for the purpose of raffling them off in order to raise funding. For the cost of a $10 ticket, you get four chances to win a blanket. Those tickets will be available on Saturday at the crop, by private messaging our Facebook page, or by emailing me directly.
We are so grateful for the support that we have received from our community, and we look forward to continuing our work. We know we can’t cure kidney disease, or we would have done it for my mom. But what we can do is let people who are suffering from it know they are not forgotten. We can let them know that they are loved. And hopefully, provide them with a bright spot in their day, a warm lap, and a full heart.
Laura Zoeller can be reached at zoeller5@verizon.net.