Cards for a Cause - Ronald McDonald House Donation

This past Labor Day holiday weekend, I was quite the busy bee!  

Additional packages containing card donations for my sponsored local Ronald McDonald House location in Pasadena are coming in from other monthly hostesses and participants from the SplitCoastStampers community, so it was high time I made a delivery.  

I repurposed a small brown box by decorating it with gift wrap paper I found in the check out aisles at Michaels and I printed out a quickie label to adhere to the front that says "Free Handmade Greeting Cards Donated by Rubber Stampers from www.splitcoaststampers.com."  I wanted to make the box pretty and ready to go for the admin team. 

I also cut up extra colored manilla file folders I had to make dividers for each of the themed cards to make it easier to rifle through.  I was short on time so made these super quick and without fuss, hence my handwriting on each of the tabs.  Ideally, I would have cut out each of the dividers using heavy weight patterned paper and found a way using punches and/or dies to hand notch each of the tabs, but those supplies are in storage, so I made do with what I had.  

I got to meet the Operations Director / House Manager of the Pasadena location, Vicky Garcia, yesterday early evening and got to hand off the box directly to her.  She was so nice to give me a facility tour and really educated me on RMH's mission, how they operate and all the good deeds they do for families in need.  

Vicky informed me that this Pasadena location caters to many international and out of state families who come to this area due to the many hospitals that Pasadena RMH partners with.  Therefore, Pasadena RMH will service needy families who suffer from other debilitating illnesses other than cancer.  Most of the families that stay here are of Hispanic origin and speak Spanish.  Vicky mentioned that many of them celebrate hispanic cultural holidays such as All Soul's Day and would appreciate those themed cards or any in Spanish language.  

While touring, I saw a few families in the downstairs common areas.  It was heart breaking to see a few small children in crutches and various bandages for what appeared to be severe limb amputations. 

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have met Vicky and for her time she gave me. I'm also very grateful to the SplitCoastStampers community for introducing and inspiring me to contribute to such a worthy cause.  

It was a bit deja vu-ish because this Pasadena facility is located literally right across the street from the Hospital by dad was in for his long term hospice care when he had suffered the first of his debilitating strokes that led to the revelation that he was suffering from Parkinson's Disease and colon cancer from which he would eventually succumb to.  I haven't been back or near this street where the hospital is located since that time.  I was definitely flood with a lot of emotions.  

On to less heavy topic of conversation........this box got really heavy and full I must say.  There are 175 cards total in here. 

I have to thank my friend Lynn M again for her contribution of 162 cards.  She sent me as much as she could inside a large flat rate priority box.  They already had a matching envelope and were encased in clear plastic sleeves. I merely added a slip in each one to acknowledge her as the generous and talented artist for the recipient.  Here's a sampling of her cards that I photographed. 

Here are cards donated to by a fellow monthly hostess Carol who collected a total of 536 during her designated month of May for her local Ronald McDonald House location in Minnesota!  Thank you Carol!





These next 20 cards were donated by Lee Mae of Washington state. Gosh her cards are super cute and perfect for kids!  Thank you Lee Mae!!

My favorite is the single layer card in the bottom left with the little hedgehogs!! Oh, and the little penguin with a party banner in his wings is super adorable too!! Her style is so bright, cheerful and whimsical which is so different than mine.

It's such a treat to open each parcel and marvel at each and every carefully handcrafted greeting card that's been donated.  Lynn's, Carol's and Lee Mae's styles are all so different from each other and from my own that it's such an eye opening experience, not to mention delight, in handling their cards in person.

And finally, because I have bags of SU Card Fronts from my previous Demo Only Swaps that I hosted coming out of my ears, I finally converted what I hope is the last remaining bag into full cards and prepared them to contribute to the other monthly hostesses located around the U.S.   Here's a pile of what I could fit into a picture.

So, with this pile, I've mailed off:

- 10 cards to August Hostess for the San Diego, CA RMH location. 

- 10 cards to the September Hostess for the Baltimore, MD RMH location. 

- 10 cards to the October Hostess for the Hershey, PA RMH location.

- 20 cards to the November and December Hostess for the Madison and Marshfield, WI RMH locations. 

- 10 cards to the February Hostess for the Minnesota RMH location.  

Whew! September 9th was a good productive day! I'm done with all of my contributions for the remainder of the year in this round to the other hostesses.  

                        ******************************************************

RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE MISSION: To provide a community where children and their families embrace life and healing (from cancer) with a sense of hope, enthusiasm, courage and joy. 

Pasadena Ronald McDonald House 

763 South Pasadena Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105

2015 Donations = 118 Cards
2015 Cards Collected for Donation = 217
* 20 from Marina F. *
* 162 from Lynn M. *
* 15 from Carol *
* 20 from Lee Mae *

I have chosen to adopt the location in Pasadena to donate cards that I create and collect from friends throughout the rest of this 2015.  

SEEKING THESE CARD THEMES:  Anything other than religious, make them uplifting, thinking of you, children themes, etc.  Cards with no sentiments are perfectly acceptable too. Examples of themes: Welcome Baby Card / Wedding / Sympathy Card / Birthday / Thinking of You/ Thank you / Missing you. 

WANT TO DONATE:  Please leave a comment here with your email, and I'll reply to you with my home address.  

By forwarding to me or any of our other monthly hostesses throughout the US, you'll allow our group of ladies over at the SCS community to tally the number of cards donated and lives impacted.  Check out our Call for Cards here. 

 DETAILS:
1. Cards need to use good quality cardstock- HEAVY WEIGHT--- (so the card can stand alone) and include a minimum of two layers and one embellishment.  

2. IF you use colorful / dark cardstock—please line the inside of the card with either white or vanilla paper so the guests can write in them using black/blue pen.

3. If you place a sentiment inside—repeat the sentiment and place on copy paper so that it can be added inside the back of the sleeve-so the individual can see if there is a “saying” on the inside or it is “blank” 

4. If you would like to include envelopes and sleeves it would be greatly appreciated - sleeve IS NOT necessary.  What's a sleeve?  Click here for example. 

Nevertheless, I'll be preparing each card by inserting them and a matching envelopes inside individual clear A2 sized sealable envelopes in to keep the card clean and in pristine shape to allow the RMH recipients to handle and make their selection. 

                        ******************************************************

So far, I've contributed 118 cards personally to all the hostesses nationwide.

Everything I personally make going forward will be going in my collection box for my designated month of January 2016 to the Pasadena Ronald McDonald House location.     

I'd love it if you'd like to donate some of your cards to this cause.   Please contact me for my mailing address! 

Thank you for visiting!! 

And HUGE THANK YOU's to Lynn, Carol and Lee Mae again!