Southern Hospitality

(Deep thought) “Hmmmmm…….that’s weird, I don’t know.”

We’re still trying to figure out exactly what’s going on, but one thing we know for sure - there’s something a bit different/weird/special/unique/odd/interesting about one of our latest additions, Children’s Healthcare of ATL.

Maybe this image will help! These are all the hospitals that haven’t responded to us (yet, we hope)…

We intentionally made it small so you can’t see the hospitals that haven’t responded! Trying to be nice just in case!!

So it’s hard to see, but that’s 76 hospitals we’ve reached out to with no response (and that does not include hospitals who said they didn’t want to receive cards). A couple of times, we were actually able to get a hold of someone, but they didn’t know what to do. They passed us around a bit, and then promised they’d call back. Then there was another time when we reached out to a hospital via Twitter. The Twitter team told us they’d love to get cards and told us who to contact. We reached out a number of times……no response.

Although it uses up day time minutes, and rarely works, we always try to leave voicemails when we reach out to hospitals.

Once again trying to be nice ad blocking out their names. J

So we followed the script. Called Children’s Healthcare of ATL. They didn’t answer. We left a message. Marked it on our excel chart. Planned to call them in around a month.

Then, within a couple days, we got a call from Melanie on the volunteer team. She APOLOGIZED (our jaws hit the floor) for not answering and calling back sooner. We gave her a brief rundown of Cardz for Kidz!, our mission, and the requirements. After we told her that we double check every card to make sure they do NOT say ‘Get Well Soon’ she was excited and agreed that they’d like to receive cards. Although they’re bigger than hospitals we usually partner with, Too Small No Such Thing, we learned it’d be great for all sides since we guarantee all our cards are appropriate. After that we pinky promised we’d try to send them 100 cards a quarter and 30 of those cards would be in Spanish and they pinky promised they’d be delivered room to room.

OK, so one may think, “wait wait, they’re not THAT special, you’re two for two with Providence Health Services!! That’s impressive!!” We agree it’s impressive. You should’ve seen how far our jaws dropped when we called Providence Health the second time and they answered the phone!! No need to leave a message or anything like that. Impressed. It’s just Children’s Healthcare of ATL has done so much more.

But wait, the uniqueness doesn’t stop there. Let’s do some math. Now, if you figure in the fact we’ve been doing this for 5 years TIMES hospitals per quarter TIMES multiple packages per quarter EQUALS A TON of shipments. In addition, with some of those shipments we’ve sent other special gifts, such as Beanie Babies, TVs, DVDs, and DVD Players. Thankfully, with some of those shipments, we’ve received some Thank You cards.

Do you see a common theme? Yeah, all of those green cards are from Children’s Healthcare of ATL. Although they’re a large hospital and likely get all types of donations, they’ve reached out to us little guys to thank us for the “artwork” you created!

Alright, last unique thing. One time while we were in Atlanta, we stopped by the hospital to drop off some cards. In other cases, they have simply asked us to leave it at the front desk, but not our buddies. When we arrived, they sent two volunteers down to thank us and pick up the cards!

OK, so we know this is different/weird/special/unique/odd/interesting and we’re still trying to figure out why they’re consistently so nice. You know what? Maybe all the songs and phrases are true. Maybe Children’s Healthcare of ATL is just the definition of SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY!

#SouthernHospitality #ForeverThankful #UpliftingSpirits

To see more pictures and stories please check out our website www.cardzforkidz.org, like us on Facebook page, follow us on Twitter , visit our Google+ page, or visit our LinkedIn page! Also, check out some of our videos on YouTube!