Made It: MCC Relief Kits

Hello! Back-to-school shopping is in full swing now. Even though my school days are way behind me, I did my share of such shopping last week to help out MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) relief efforts. 

On its website, MCC states that "Notebooks and pencils are treasures for families who struggle to afford basic school supplies. School kits often are requested after disasters and help bring normalcy to children whose families have been forced to flee their homes."

The supply list for each school kit is modest: four 70-page spiral-bound notebooks, one ruler, one large eraser, eight pencils and a package of 12 colored pencils. I took advantage of these items being on sale this month and bought enough to fill several bags.

Bags? Yes - if desired, one can make a fabric bag of a specified size; this becomes a carryall for each school kit. MCC accepts the supplies without the accompanying bags, but eventually all school kits are packed in fabric bags before being distributed. MCC reports that the recipients really enjoy having their own bags, filled with their own school supplies. 

A homemade fabric bag with a few school supplies may seem like a small thing, but when you're forced to make do with very little, a MCC school kit may seem like a big thing! 

The sewing for the fabric bags is very easy, and I have enough fabric on hand, so I whipped up a bag for each set of supplies. Here's a couple of filled bags, ready for their new homes:

The MCC website mentions that relief kits, hygiene kits and blankets are currently in urgent need. Well, I'd already sent them a blanket (as seen in this post), so I decided to make a couple of hygiene kits as well. Each hygiene kit consists of one hand towel, one toothbrush, one nail clipper and one large bar of soap. Each kit also goes into a fabric bag, the same size as the school kit bag, so it was easy to sew up two more. 

These kits are a relatively easy way to help out those in desperate need, and I was glad to play a small role in this facet of MCC relief efforts. 

If you'd like to learn more about these relief kits, go here.