How often do you have a clothing exchange?

Because I definitely want to make it to the next one, if I have to ask Shanna B. to come over and bang on my door and drag me out!!

I've got some stuff together already, and will continue to add things to it - stuff that I know I won't wear within the next 3-4 months (as I hope to have surgery by then - we're just waiting on insurance approval - the request was sent in by Dr. E's office on 9/24, and it's Federal BC - I've been told it's pretty quick).

By the time we have another one, I hope to have a ton of size 22-24 things available for some one that can use them!

Thanks!

Sorry , we missed ya yesterday! We usually have the exchanges every 3 months! Normally in January, April, July and October! We will also be having an ornament exchange in December, waiting to finalize the dates and info for now! We also have impromptu gatherings, just keep watchin the posts! We love ANY reason to get together, it is great support and socialization! Always great to see/meet our fellow losers no matter where they are in their journies! Hope to meet ya soon! Hugz Dawn

Edited to say OCTOBER NOT AUGUST! SORRY!

Thanks for the info Dawn!  I hope to make the next get together!

Dawn,

Sorry to butt in here but are the gatherings kind of all over Indy? I don't know the west side very well at all.
I do want to meet ya all.....

Connie

LOL - Connie, I'm in trouble if it is North or East side!  West and South, I'm good!

I had hosted quite a few on the eastside, however Robin has been hosting these and they are all at her church- on the west side! Some of our other gatherings are wherever- whenever someone wants to host something or arrange a dinner! I am awaiting Floyd and Brenda's holiday plans and if they were not able to host the ornament exchange, I was interested in doing it, this year! Hopefully I/we will know something in a few days about that! Hope this helps!

The clothing exchanges used to be held in various places, depending on if someone volunteered to host them! Anyone is welcome to volunteer! Robin's church has a clothing closet so it was convenient for her church and her to host so that the clothing stayed there and was donated for a good cause! When I hosted she came and picked up the leftovers and we also donated them to various charities each time!

Hugz Dawn

Edited to add- I have been to Beech Grove, Kokomo, Greenfield, Mooresville, Indy's eastside as well as the west side for the ones that I have attended since my surgery in 05! There were many before my surgery date as well!

I think Dawn had a typo..the 4th month for the exchanges is usually October, not August.

As was said, we do have several get togethers through-out the year than just the clothing exchanges.

Feb/March: Hot Tub party (my house...east side of Indy)
June: Holiday World (south Indiana)
August: Camp-out in Middlebury (north Indiana)
December: Ornament Exchange (will be on the East side of Indy this year)

The hot tub party & ornament exchange really isn't kid oriented but kids are welcome at the other activities (after almost having my stomach ran into a few times by running kids Saturday though, I would request that parents make sure they watch their kids at all times. I didn't circulate as much as I would have liked because I was afraid of having a kid run into me/my stomach...that would have been disastrous for me right now. Also, parents should accompany their little ones when they get their food so that the kids are standing there playing with or fingering the food.). All of the activities are open to pre and post-ops alike as well as their spouse/significant other.

We have several impromptu dinners. The last few have been on the west side but it was mainly us east-siders to show up..which is why we usually hold these on the east side. There have also been a few impromptu shopping trips to Edinburg's Outlet mall.

Pretty much, if you know you are going to be somewhere for dinner on a certain night, post it and see if others would like to join you. That hold true no matter where you live! No matter what part of the state you are from, there are probably other OH'ers who live within easy driving distance of you.

Hope to see you at a get-together real soon!

Sherri

ps...Robin's church on the west side is a perfect location for the exchanges. There's pleanty of parking, lots of room, kitchen & bathroom facilities, and all on one level (which is excellent for those who are pre-op or in bad health). I hope that Robin doesn't mind doing these for a long time to come!

these all sound fantastic. I do have family in Indy that I can stay with when these activities occur. Are there ever any activities in the South Bend area? Indy is about 3-3.5 hours from here. I will travel if I know dates ahead of time, but would be nice to have something closer. Just curious. These sound awesome though.

Laura,

I don't know of anything near South Bend..but...you can always start something! I'm sure there are probably others here on the board that live near South Bend that wouldn't mind meeting up for dinner, shopping, etc. Post it..and they will come! LOL! If you send you info to Floyd ([email protected]), the next time he updates the Hoosier Directory, you will get a copy of it. Then you'll have the contact info to see who is near you. Send him your screen name, real name, address, phone #, email addy, spouse/sig. other name, and your special dates (birthdate, anniversary, surgery anniversary).

So...is there something that's alot of fun to do up near you? All of the activities I listed were started because someone said 'hmmmmm....wouldn't this be cool'. The ornament exchange, the first year, there were 5 people. Last year? Close to 30. Same thing for the hot tub party. The camp-out grew immensly from last year to this year.

Sherri