The Sleeping Bag Project

Autumn is full of so many wonderful iconic elements and traditions in our corner of the world. Two Dryden customs are in season.

Celebrating 25 years of service to the homeless, My Brother’s Keeper will start another year of making sleeping bags to distribute through the Rescue Mission. The group meets each Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the fellowship hall of the Dryden United Methodist Church, 9 East Main St.

Using donations ranging from retired clothing to stashes of unused fabric, members manufacture sleeping bags each week. The bags are filled with clean socks and warm clothing and tied up in a useful bundle for those needing a bundle of comfort.

Longtime group member Joyce Church shares: “Anyone is welcome to help. Never having done it before is no excuse since there will be ladies there who have been doing it for many years and all are very willing to help the transition from novice to expert.”

Joyce says participants come from all over the community. It is truly an ecumenical project. Helpers come from all the area churches, and also with no church affiliation.

With over 3,000 sleeping bags completed to date, the group has plenty of stories to share. Some are direct words of thanks, some are roundabout stories of how a sleeping bag made it to just the right hands at just the right time.

Joyce invites potential helpers to “come on any Friday and stay as long as you can. Bring a bag lunch. Drinks and dessert are provided.”

Donations are not needed at this time, as “we have more supplies than we have room to store them,” Joyce said.

Written by Ithaca Journal

October 8, 2017

Britches

This summer our Wednesday Crew has been hard at work putting together health kits to add to the sleeping bags.

We seem to run into a dilemma of running short of men’s underwear. A necessary component of our daily hygiene.

Underwear that works best are boxers, shorts, briefs even PJ bottoms.

New is fine but, clean and gently used is even better. They will not be used over and over so when you buy new for your family please send our homeless neighbors clean protection.

Only Men’s underwear will do. We don’t know who will receive this precious commodity.

Just a reminder: The Annual Thank You Picnic is on Saturday, September 16, 2017. If you can attend, we would love to see you and share stories of the past year. Don’t forget to bring a covered dish and an item for our Clothesline Chinese Auction.