Baskets of Love distributes over 35 baskets each month to single moms and their children in the Vacaville/Fairfield area.  Baskets of Love was created to help single moms and their children by giving them a goodie basket each month full of things they might not otherwise be able to buy. 

I started Baskets of Love when my sister, Jeanette, was going through a divorce with two children to raise.  The monthly goodie baskets were my way of showing her that I cared.  I didn't want to stop with my sister--I wanted to thank God for my blessings by giving back--so I've continued to adopt widowed moms, divorced moms, and grandmas raising their granchildren.   I use half of the profits from Cuckoo Creations to help finance Baskets of Love.

You can help support Baskets of Love by purchasing Cuckoo Creation products, donating items each month for the baskets, or making a monetary donation to help purchase items for the baskets.  Thank you for helping me bless these moms (and especially their children) every month. 

You can contact me at YvonnesBasketsOfLove@comcast.net for more information.

Donate Online

Baskets of Love is not a non-profit organization, therefore, your donation is not tax deductible.  However, your donation is greatly appreciated and will be put to good use to help bless our single moms and their children.

The Reporter
February 11, 2007

Her Baskets Spread Love All Around  

By Mary Lou Wilson
Features Editor

Yvonne Gritten believes in spreading love around.

She does it with shampoo, lotions and fancy soaps in February, books in March, and stocking stuffers in December.  Each month, she fills baskets with useful--or fun and fanciful--items and gives them to single mothers, just to make their lives a little easier.

The paperbacks, the fancy bars of soap, the decks of cards and yo-yos are just things, says Gritten, adding, “And it’s not about giving people things, it’s about showing them that someone cares.”

Her sister’s divorce two years ago made Gritten acutely aware of the plight of single moms and their children.

“It was so hard for her, and she was so proud, she didn’t want to ask for help, so I made her a goodie basket,”  Gritten says, “I put in things she might otherwise not be able to buy.”

Then a friend was widowed.  Gritten started giving her a basket each moth, too.  Gradually, her list of single mothers grew.  Although she put half of the profits from her small home business, Cuckoo Creations, into her Baskets of Love, it wasn’t enough to cover all the moms she wanted to cheer up.

So she caledl in her moms’ group, Moms Club of Fairfield-West and Vacaville, to donate items and month--$50 a month—to help reach more single moms.  Her church, Crossroads Christian Church, joined the effort, responding with donations appropriate for the theme she chose for each month.

The mothers are grateful, she says and adds, “I got a tearful call after I delivered the stocking-stuffer basket.  The mother told me that those were the only toys her children got for Christmas.”

Other mothers have told her they want to help with the baskets once they get on their feet.  “It all comes full circle,” she says.

Her list is now up to 18, with each basket containing an estimated $30 worth of little gifts.  Each time she adds a name, she takes “a leap of faith,” says Gritten.  “I just feel things will be provided, that the people who need it will match the people who give.”

For three days each month, the Fairfield home she shares with her husband, Greg, and children, Chelsea, 12, and Jake, 8, becomes a Baskets of Love assembly plant.  Donations are in by the 15^th of each month, Gritten shops the 16^th and on the 17^th, she and the children assemble the baskets and she delivers on the 18^th.

“I feel so blessed with my wonderful husband and family,” Gritten says, “I thank God for my blessings and want to give back to someone else.”

If anyone has an idea to help other people, act on it, she urges.  “It’s what makes the world a better place.”

How to help

If you would like to donate items for Yvonne Gritten’s Baskets of Love, e-mail her at YvonnesBasketsOfLove@comcast.net.

If you know of a single mother in the Vacaville/Fairfield area who is in need of a basket, send an e-mail to YvonnesBasketsOfLove@comcast.net.

Monetary donations are also accepted to help buy baskets and supplement the donations.  Those who want to receive the monthly e-mail with the next month’s theme, may contact Gritten at her e-mail address above.