Bola Krafts Cares - 3rd Edition Recap

O My! my last post was well over a year ago,  I apologize!

2014 was a life-changing year for me, I had my first child, my sunshine daughter - Teniola fondly known as TeniB :) Jan 7th and my world as I knew it was never the same in a good way, she is such a joy to our family and we are so blessed to call her our own.

This post is supposed to be about my 3rd project which was an immense success, if you follow me on instagram - BolaKrafts ( where I usually keep things up to date) you would have followed the journey of the project, but in my tradition I felt it was important for me to also update here and write as everything unfolded as I did with my past projects so here goes~

I had been brainstorming for a little while as to what my next project would be, I really enjoyed how with the Take 2 project, I was able to auction off some items and have the funds go towards a project in Nigeria, so I knew I wanted to do something similar this year, I just wasn't sure how to go about it yet. Then shortly before thanksgiving I stumbled upon arm knitting, made a scarf for my husband, shared the picture on instagram and the response to it was really nice. I decided that since the adults are always asking me to consider and make something for them, I could use this as an opportunity to tie it with my project.

One of my passions is Education and I really wanted the project I worked on this go to make an impact in fostering a better learning environment and improving the education of children, so I just had to find the school to assist, which in itself was not hard. God had laid on my heart to work with Whanyinna Nursery and Primary School in Makoko, Lagos, Nigeria. Whanyinna is located in the floating village of structures on stilts in Lagos and can be seen from the 3rd Mainland bridge when driving. Whanyinna, which means love, is the only nursery and prinary school set up by the community and run by Noah Shemede, young hardworking man who has given his heart and soul to ensure that the children of the community have a place to be educated. There are currently 239 children and they attend for free.

The second part of my project was not difficult for me also, I had been wanting for a long time to donate hats to children with cancer going through chemo, and reached out to an organization called Knots of Love that focuses solely on this, so it was all sorted out.

The Project was tagged Bola Krafts Cares 30 for 30 Thanksgiving to Christmas Edition. The deal was to make 20 infinity arm knitted Scarves for 20 adults - sold at $35 each, 100% of the proceeds went to Whanyinna and 10 hats for 10 children donated to Knots of Love.

I usually do a heart check before I embark on any project because at the end of the day, God has to take all the glory, it's a project for His people and with the outcome it was clear that His hand certainly was in and all over it. I started of wanting to raise $,1000, when I created the donations page I upped the fundraiser to $1,500 and by the end of  first day I had raised $1,497, Imagine that!! my heart was bursting with the love and support...this was just day one and I had 20 plus days to go. The donations kept pouring in and I myself got to work, making the scarves one night at a time and working on the hats also. Not too long afterwards I had crossed the $3,000 this is now 3 times what I initially thought I would raised and at the end of the projected $4,061, I was completely BLOWN, God took total control actually He just took over, I was simply a vessel he used to create a link between people who were willing to help and the school.

I also received a beautiful call from Knots of Love letting me know where they sent the hats to, one went to a 4 year old girl in NJ and the other 9 went to Children's Cancer Centers in Los Angeles, CA, Fort Wortg ,TX and Orange, CA. Thank GOD!

Here is the list of items I initially wanted to support Whanyinna with
-Uniform - $5 per child
-Textbooks - $5 per book
-Teachers Salary - $60 per teacher per month

At the end of the project we helped get
-Uniform Material and Tailoring for 100 Students
-Math and English Textbooks for all 239 Students
-1 Computer and Printer Set
-Sand Filling of the School's Premises
-9 Standing Fans and 2 wall fans for all classrooms and the school Library
-3 Months of Salary for 9 Teachers

All  I can say is God is too much, to think just how much can go a very long way. It was a blessing for me to be part of this, I thank every single one of you for your financial and emotional support and encouragement, I got some heavenly helpers along the way, you know yourselves, God bless you abundantly for all that you did to make this a success, Noah, the teachers and students express their heartfelt gratitude and are praying for us all daily.

Most importantly I am looking forward to future projects, partnering with God and you all, best believe I am brainstorming already and I'm excited for what my future holds through Bola Krafts Cares.






20 Scarves for 20 Adults

10 Hats for 10 Kids



1st day of the project and the finish line :)

 

Noah Shemede - Principal and Director, Whanyinna Nursery and Primary School

Moved me to tears

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~Psalm 46 v 5 - God is within her, She will not Fall ~

Bola Krafts Cares Project: The Drop Off Experience

Hi lovely people!
So I wanted to give you the run down on how my drop off experience went. As you all know I completed THE first Bola Krafts Cares donation, (if you don't know what it is about or are new to the blog, please just make yourself comfortable and read my older posts  :) you'll enjoy the journey) and my friend Toun and I had made plans to go to the hospital today to drop the hats off at the center. I didn't even realize today was May 1st when we said we would go next wednesday, funny enough part of the things  I said I wanted to do in this new year was to do something new at the beginning of each month, so it was just a great way to start of May.  Below I'll give you the run down and just explain the experience with the pictures I was able to take, enjoy!

May 1st, 2013

8:00 AM
Here I am bright and early ahem, with the packages (my package along with my friend Bukky who made some hats to donate also) ready for delivery, I harassed someone on my bus line to help me take my picture :)

11:00 AM

I left my office around 11 and headed down to Brooklyn, luckily it was a short ride took me about 20 mins, getting out the train made me a bit nostalgic I hadn't been to this part of BK in years, maybe since I lived close by in park slope. The hospital is close to fulton street where I went to pierce my ears (second holes) in some bootleg jewelry store as claires wouldn't do it for me since I was 17 then and you needed an "adult"...ye like I said random nostalgic memories, I digress back to the story, I finally saw the sign for the hospital and I got excited, its finally happening!

11:26 - 11:40 AM

I waited and waited and waited for Doc Toun o for a long time! ok well not too long hehe, mind you she was coming from Brooklyn and I Manhattan, she couldn't believe I made it there before her in her words "the devil is a liar!" haha she had some train issues but she finally made it and of course we had special treatment because she used to work there ( no pictures of my wait, I was busy thinking about how things would go when we got upstairs)

11:42 AM

After hugging and quick catch up as we walked upstairs we finally got to the Neonatal floor, were I was fortunate to meet the Nurse Manager and the lovely Nurse below, her name escapes me now. Toun was so excited she did all the talking and told them basically how I made all the hats to donate, the nurse below was like "no strings attached?!" hahahaha I guess nowadays some people always expect something in return, she also said "do you want the box back?!" I said no please its part of it, she and the nurse manager just kept ooooing and aaaaaing that they were so cute and not really gotten any hats like this before. Though I couldn't go see the babies ( there were like 3 doors before you could even get to their rooms plus they don't want any of our germs for real!) , Toun and the Nurse showed me the room where they have their success stories on the wall and also albums where families send the Unit letters after their babies have gone home. Apparently the babies are called Survivors - Toun said the amount of details and care that goes daily into watching the babies is amazing down to if they gain 1gram not a pound o, 1 gram to how many diapers are changed to how they retain water all means something, but the babies are fighting fighting to live, God bless their soul. The Nurse has worked in Neonatal Unit for 26 years , so I can't imagine what she has seen and been through. One of the other Dr's I met (2nd in command of the Unit)  was so excited , she kept saying how will we determine which babies get which hats, then she ran with the baseball flower hat to go see which baby she would give it to, that made my day~

12:10 PM
Of course with corporate america and 1 hr or so lunch I had to get back to the office, Toun made me tear up a few times with how enthusiastic she was just talking about the project. Here's Toun and I we got some guy named ....gash totally forgot his name, Jack? mayhaps to help us take our picture outside the hospital, can you tell from Toun's smile she's a happy bunny? Love you Doc Toun Toronto! Shout out to my Doc who's going to be specializing in OBGYN if only she wasn't moving so far away she would have delivered my babies, maybe you will just drive down when the time comes! better make sure we do our dinner o, have too much to catch up on.

and there you have it folks, first Bola Krafts Cares Experience was beyond amazing and definitely a blessing to me, I pray once more that the hats bring joy to the families and staff and maybe I'll get a picture from the hospital that I can share on here, hey you never know!
 

                  

P.S. Some Facts
- A neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is an intensive care unit specializing in the care of ill or premature newborn infants.
- The Brooklyn Hospital Center is located - 121 Dekalb Ave, New York, NY 11205





Bola Krafts Cares Project - Grand Update

Hi guys!!

I know you have been anxiously waiting for this post (ahem), wanting to see how the hats turned out. As nice as my iphone pictures have been, I wanted to do the hats justice and asked TemT to take official pictures for me. I am beyond pleased with how every hat came out and I'm so excited to share with you the final items. so without too much talking enjoy the photos below

It's a hoot hoot party! I LOVE the girl sleepy owls, i love all the owls, so cute!

Walt Disney would be so happy with how these came out, Mickey and Minnie for the win always 

Where are mommy and daddy's little baby bears?, right here!!

Love Love these , the softness of the grey flower against the yellow hat, so nice 



Color blocking even in 2013, we make it cool still haha

For my sports lovers, football and baseball hats, his and hers :), lets go Giants and Mets!

There just had to be a hat with a heart, everything we make is made with Love

**Drum Roll** - All 30 Hats!

Presentation and Packing is everything! - Love this box i found at TJ Maxx

~Yours Truly~

Thank you God for blessing my hands to finish up the project and also thanks so much to you all for your support, partaking in this project has definitely enriched my life and I'm so glad I made the decision to do it, April 2013 has been a blessed month for me. When I was finishing up I was a tad bit emotional, thinking about the little babies that will wear the hats, and I hope it will bring a smile to their parents and even the NICU staff's faces when they see the babies in it.  I can't wait to go deliver next week - look out for my update!

I leave you with this quote from Mother Theresa - “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”  , I made sure that every hat I made was made from a place of love, it might seem like the hats are a lot but to me this is just my small token or way of making a difference in 2013. I hope to even make greater strides with Bola Krafts Cares by Gods special grace, I just have to committ my ideas and ways to the Lord, Trust in Him and He will surely bring them to pass (Psalm 37 v 5), and I know once I do that, I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me (Philippians 4 v 13).

Till the next post~

Day 14 Update: Bola Krafts Cares Project

Hallooo!

Wow 14 days have gone by sooooo fast! I wasn't able to post any updates during the week, work was crazy and also this thing called life happens, lets just say it was a tough one. Anyways at some point I thought I might not meet my goal but I just pressed on, I'm the type of person that once I have committed to do something or a task, I have to see it through. As God would have it, this morning I woke up to see one of my friends had also made hats to add to my donation! Fantastic right :), without much ado see below pictures.

I was supposed to have done a post when I crossed over the half point but since I didn't it here it is,

 16 hats!

A friend of mine made some hats to contribute to the donation, she had originally set a target of 3 but ended up making 7, thanks Bukky!

This is today, 26 hats, currently in the process of making the last 4

Tracking Guide

Day 14: April 14th , 11:07am

Goal : 30 hats - 15 boys, 15 girls

Hats Completed : 26 hats, 4 more to go!

Once I finish the 4 hats, its off to building the hats, making them into mickeys, minnies, owls, baby bears I think I said this in a prior post right haha, enjoy the rest of your sunday and have a blessed week~

UPDATE!!
-  I finished all 30 hats last night!! thank God! 

Tracking Guide

Day 14: April 14th , 10:00 pm

Goal : 30 hats - 15 boys, 15 girls

Hats Completed : 30 hats

:D

Day 6 Update: Bola Krafts Cares Project

Hi all! So glad for the weekend, this week was super busy, my day time job (I'm a project accountant for an architectural firm) was hectic beyond as with anybody else having not just a monthly close but quarter close (blah blah blah hahaha), I'm just glad the most of it is over.

Sooooo this is just a quick update with picture of the hats I have made so far, I had done my calculation - 2 hats a day for 15 days should get me my 30 hats, with weekends to do my finishing touches i.e. make my hats come to LIFE, so I hope to update this post later on with a few baby bears and hopefully one or two owls, so you can see how they would look when finished. Overall I'm liking my pace so far.

Tracking Guide

Day 6 : April  6th , 9:13am

Goal : 30 hats - 15 boys, 15 girls

Hats Completed : 10 hats

We getting there people, 1/3rd done, 2/3rds to go!

Day 3 Update: Bola Krafts Cares Project

So like I said prior, I wanted to use this space as a means to document the process of the Bola Kraft Cares project. I am super excited about it and so far its going well.

I had planned in my head, transferred to my trusty journal and now over here on the blog, my game plan for this project. As an aside, in the past I hadn't been a big fan of writing but over the years have come to find that its extremely helpful, this year for me in particular getting really specific in what I write has been a great. A new habit I formed this year is to always have my journal with me so as ideas and anything really that comes to mind gets written down, so I can always refer back later. You should try it also :) . 

So here goes my game plan

30 Hats - 15 boys, 15 girls
  

No	Boy	Girl
1	Baby Bear Hat, 0-3 M, Blue	Baby Bear Hat, 0-3 M, Pink
2	Baby Bear Hat, premie M, Blue	Baby Bear Hat,premie, Pink
3	Baby Bear Hat, premie, Brown with Blue ears	Baby Bear Hat, premie, Brown with Pink ears
4	Striped Hat with Button, 0-3 M	Lace shell Hat with Rose, 0-3 M
5	Striped Hat with Button, premie M	Lace shell Hat with Rose, premie M
6	Striped Hat with Button, premie M	Striped Hat with Butterfly, premie M
7	Solid Color Hat with ear flaps, 0-3M	Solid Color Hat with earflaps, 0-3 M
8	Solid Color Hat with deep texture,premie M	Solid Color Hat with deep texture,premie M
9	Color Block Hat,premie M	Color Block Hat, premie M
10	Baby Owl Hat (with eyes open) 0-3M, Blue	Baby Owl Hat (with eyes open) 0-3M, Pink
11	Baby Owl Hat (with eyes sleeping) premie, Blue	Baby Owl Hat (with eyes sleeping) premie, Pink
12	Baby Owl Hat (with eyes sleeping) premie, Green	Baby Owl Hat (with eyes sleeping) premie, Purple
13	Mickey Mouse Hat, 0-3M, Red and Black	Minnie Mouse Hat, 0-3M, Red and Black
14	Mickey Mouse Hat, premie, Red and Black	Minnie Mouse Hat,premie, Pink and Black
15	Football Hat, premie	Football Hat with bow, premie

This is not set in stone but it gives me some structure to work with, I might modify as I go, as you see on some I haven't put the color choices on them incase I change my mind haha, but overall its a good guide.

Tracking Guide
Day 3 : April  3rd , 8:01am

Goal : 30 hats - 15 boys, 15 girls

Hats Completed : 1.5 or 3 ( hahaha so I usually make my hats first then make all the add ons afterwards, from the picture below you see 3 hats but they need baby bear ears, which I will be working on this wknd)

Keep cheering me on!

Bola Krafts Cares is here!

It's here! It's here! Bola Krafts Cares 1st project is here!

Wow its April 1st, Isn't it amazing how the first quarter of this year went by so quickly, Thank God for keeping us through those months but this day is a day I have been looking forward to for about 6 weeks!

Back when i started Bola Krafts, I knew that I wanted to do some form of charity work because I believe that as God has blessed me with a new opportunity that I also in turn have to be a blessing to others. So the initiative - Bola Krafts Cares came to life, what I decided to do was for 2 weeks every 3 months, I would work on newborn hats to donate to hospitals or any avenue (suggestions welcomed!) that accepts such donations, during this period I wouldn't take any orders and just focus solely on working on the items. so I'm completely ecstatic that the month is finally here and I can begin working on it.

By me putting the word out on Instagram and talking to friends,  I was able to find my first hospital to donate to. Bola Kraft Cares will be giving to the Brooklyn Hospital Center's NICU (thanks again Toun!). This also was the reason I started this blog because I wanted a space where I could document the journey, so come with me guys cheer me on and by God's grace I will meet my goal.

So here goes how I will be tracking, I will also share pictures of the hats I make

Day 1 : April 1st , 7:08am

Goal : 30 hats - 15 boys, 15 girls

Hats Completed :  0

Ready, Set, Let's go!