A Big Shout-out to Our Volunteers

Firstly, thank you to D’Anne Rygg.  For the last few years she has done the majority of the perishable food shops for us, no mean feat considering she lives Chatsworth way. We wish D’Anne all the best as she moves from her home of many years to a senior community in Thousand Oaks.
 
Pat Lester and Karen Sherwood have been making fabulous throw pillow covers for years now and they never fail to bring a splash of color and beauty to the apartments. 
 
And now that Pat has retired, she scours the thrift shops even more than she did pre-retirement, always on the lookout for practical items we can use but what she’s really looking for are dolls, especially dolls of varied ethnicities.  Below you’ll see a couple of photos of the dolls she’s purchased and the amazingly finicky and tiny outfits she’s made for them. They come complete with outfits (Pat-made!) and accessories. If any of you have doll accessories, you’d like to move along,  please let Pat or me know. 
And be sure to look for our booth at the Topanga Farmers Market the second Friday of each month where Wendy Skolfield will be setting up shop and sharing with the community our mission along with an open invitation to get involved. A week ago Wendy and Pat Lester opened our first booth at the Market and a Topanga Elementary parent indicated in conversation that she’d like to get students involved in volunteerism and is interested in how they can work with TWC. Years ago we would go into the classroom of the fifth graders and explain in non-scary terms our mission to help those less fortunate. For some years now kindergarten teacher, Linda Kort, has had her students do a non-perishable food drive, aiming to collect 100 cans of food for the first 100 days of school. 
Wende at the Topanga Farmers Market
Next week we’ll be sending out a request for more volunteers for our Saturday morning open bin explaining just how you can help. Nancy Hanson has been organizing this for years and while there are some dedicated ‘Bin Goddesses’ who faithfully show up each Saturday morning, numbers are dwindling and she’s looking for a few more ladies to help out in this way. 
 
Bottom line: thank you all for everything you do to keep this little charity chugging along.