Meet the Team
Perry County, PA— Rug hookers everywhere recognize the name Magdalena Briner Eby and love her primitive style rugs. Born in 1832, she lived he
Northbrook, IL—Ampry Publishing, LLC – Wildfowl Carving Magazine announced its new editor, Mark Allison, in January 2022. In
Northbrook, IL—Ampry Publishing, LLC – Rug Hooking magazine is pleased to announce the release of its latest high-quality book on rug h
Charity Drives
Ampry Publishing loves to give back to the community. Check out some of the charity drives we’ve hosted and participated in below. If you’re interested in exploring a partnership for a charity drive, send us an email to get the conversation started.
September 2015 — Stitch and Unwind Hosts Prayer Shawls at Rush Charity Drive
Ampry Publishing’s yarn blog, StitchandUnwind.com, worked with the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Ill. on their initiative “Prayer Shawls at Rush.”
From September through October 5th, Ampry Publishing LLC collected homemade prayer shawls to help benefit the patients at Rush University Medical Center. “Prayer Shawls at Rush” is a wonderful project to help bring comfort to those that need it.
Ampry Publishing connects with organizations on a regular basis as part of their “giving back” program. Most recently, Ampry Publishing has successfully hosted charity drives for groups including the American Heart Association, Project Linus, Special Olympics, Warm Up America, the Heartland Alliance, and more.
July 2015 — Food Team Volunteers at Uptown Cafe in Chicago
Eleven Ampry Publishing employees visited a Chicago anti-hunger organization on July 13 to volunteer by serving hot meals to more than 90 people in need.
Samantha Rifkin, JUF Uptown Café coordinator and nutrition coordinator, said that people stuck between a rock and a hard place still deserve to be treated with dignity, which is why Uptown Café operates differently than cafeteria-style soup kitchens.
Danielle Zimmerman, food team community editor, said “We all had a wonderful time and found serving in the Cafe to be a very rewarding and memorable experience. We all look forward to volunteering again soon, whether it’s through our company or on our own.”
“It was wonderful to work together for the sake of doing good in the community,” Zimmerman said. Read more about the experience on this RecipeChatter blog post.
Learn about volunteering at JUF Uptown Café.
June 2015 — SeamsAndScissors Hosts Successful Fabric Drive for Charity
Ampry Publishing’s sewing blog, Seams and Scissors, hosted a fabric contest last month where readers sent in extra fabric that was donated to a non-profit organization.
Urban Threads Studio, a not-for-profit organization, located at the Bridgeport Art Center in Chicago, Illinois, teaches problem solving skills through textile arts. Each summer, they host a summer camp for kids in the area, and this summer was no different. They are learning how to sew shorts, dresses, pajama bottoms, and messenger bags.
Seams and Scissors collected so much fabric that it took them two trips with six helping hands to bring it down from the office to the minivan.
“Seeing how generous readers were, and seeing the look on Ilona’s face when she was how much fabric was donated was truly priceless. It’s what made all of this hard work so worthwhile,” said Nicola Prybell, a Ampry Publishing editor.
Learn about Urban Threads Studio and read more about the charity drive.
May 2015 — RecipeChatter Cookbook Drive to Benefit WINGS
Our readers donated over 400 cookbooks to WINGS Program, Inc., one of the largest domestic violence service and housing providers in the state of Illinois. They shipped or hand-delivered their new and gently used cookbooks to the Ampry Publishing offices right here in Northbrook.
The cookbook drive was promoted to our readers, including on a RecipeChatter blog post.
In addition to cookbooks, Arielle Matlin, food team promotions editor, said “We receive many great products to review in our Test Kitchen each week. We were happy to find WINGS and put these barely used gadgets and appliances to use. Some of the donations included a Hamilton Beach Stand Mixer, an Aroma Rice Cooker and a 12-piece Rachael Ray Cookware Set.”
Check out more details about the WINGS promotion!
February 2015 — Warm Up America! and Build-a-Bed Charity Drive
StitchandUnwind.com teamed up with Warm Up America! and Build-a-Bed to help out children in need. Throughout the month of February, readers were asked to donate crocheted or knitted afghans for children who don’t have warm beds to sleep in. The folks at Build-a-Bed construct bedframes for the kids and provide them with a mattress, pillow, sheets, and a small stuffed animal. The charity drive was a huge success with over 134 afghans donated.
Check out our announcement video!
Check out a time lapse video of all the blankets!
December 2014 — Handmade Ornament Charity Drive
AllFreeHolidayCrafts.com collected handmade ornaments to donate to the charitable organization, Heartland Alliance, throughout the month of November 2014. In addition to these handmade creations, Ampry Publishing LLC also donated one dollar for each handmade ornament collected, and the ornaments were handed out to the families at Heartland Alliance’s residential homes throughout the month of December 2014. The charity drive had a great response with over 650 ornaments donated!
October 2014 — “Little Hats, Big Hearts” Charity Drive
AllFreeCrochet.com teamed up with the American Heart Association to raise awareness for heart disease and congenital heart defects in their “Little Hats, Big Hearts” charity drive. Readers were asked to mail in knitted or crocheted hats for newborns. The drive was a huge success; over 6,000 hats were donated! You can read more about this charity event here.
October 2014 — Hands-on-Heart Breast Cancer Pillow-Making Drive
AllFreeSewing.com, FaveQuilts.com, and Fairfield have teamed up to host a pillow-making charity drive, Hands-on-Heart Breast Cancer Pillow-Making Drive, to recognize Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Pillows created are donated to those battling breast cancer to help provide comfort. Ampry Publishing hosted members of two local Girl Scout troops at their Hands-on-Heart Breast Cancer Pillow-Making Party.
April-June 2014 — Project Linus Charity Blanket Drive
FaveQuilts.com has teamed up with Project Linus to host a charity drive to donate blankets to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans. The charity drive was a big success, and FaveQuilts.com received over 70 blankets, which were donated to Project Linus.
January-February 2014 — Mitten Charity Drive
AllFreeKnitting.com teamed up with Lion Brand to sponsor a charity drive for Mittens for Detroit, a charity that provides mittens of all kinds to those in need in the metropolitan Detroit area. The charity drive had a wonderful response from the readers, and Ampry Publishing and Lion Brand were able to donate over 100 mittens to Mittens for Detroit.
February-March 2013 — Baby Hat Charity Drive
AllFreeCrochet.com teamed up with Bernat to host a baby hat charity drive to benefit the labor and delivery unit at Northwest Community Hospital. Each of the 3000 babies born every year at NCH goes home with a homemade baby hat, and the AllFreeCrochet readers blew everyone away by donating 1,788 baby hats.
June 2012 — Charity Blanket Drive
AllFreeCrochetAfghanPatterns.com teamed up with Project Linus to host a Charity Blanket Drive in June 2012. Project Linus is dedicated to comforting children who are severely traumatized, ill, or otherwise in need by providing a comforting blanket made with love. Readers donated over a dozen blankets to support the cause.
October-November 2011 — Project Winter Warmth
AllFreeKnitting.com teamed up with Project Winter Warmth to donate homemade hats, gloves/mittens, and scarves to those in need, including charities like the Meals on Wheels program, The INNs Homeless Program, and any local schools where children are in need of these winter items.
