Love Note

Dear Lurie Children’s Hospital,

We were trying to think of how to express our appreciation for everything you’ve done. After much deliberation, we decided to write you a LOVE note—since these used to work back in elementary school. Only this time we’re going to expand past the simple “Roses are red, Violets are blue/We wouldn’t be global/If it wasn’t for YOU!” Instead we wrote you this full nursery rhyme...or at least we tried to!

Most of our blog posts state a bunch of stories or facts,

But this one is different—and hopefully has a greater impact.

That’s because we decided to write you a love note,

In order to express our thoughts and potentially some quotes.

Yes, it’s true we work with all kinds of locations under the sun,

But no matter how many we add you’ll always be number one.

We know there’s a lot here so you may not all know how it’s going,

So, here’s some background on how we first started flowing.

After simply volunteering, our founder connected with his boss, Boe,

And the encouragement from the Child Life and Activity Room continued to grow.

More and more people like Ellen and Nicole joined in and said, “Yes, it’s OK!”

It was actually their idea that the cards not mention health, and, instead, brighten a child’s day.

It’s funny…we believe our relationship first started when you were Children’s Memorial,

And we simply had one group who we gave a ‘How to Be Creative’ tutorial.

But now our relationship has grown since those days in Lincoln Park;

Thankfully our flame has been long lasting and wasn’t simply a small spark.

Now that you’re located at 225 E. Chicago, we’re able to do so much more.

For example, we started Cardz WITH Kidz—something everyone adores!

During those events, you let us bring artists to ensure children/families feel the impact,

And we all work together to ensure that everyone’s smiles stay intact!

You’re more special than the 2,800+ cards we’ve delivered that produced some smiles.

Even more special than your custom made hot dog created from Legos—Chicago style.

You’re more precious than the beautiful view of boats on Lake Michigan the children enjoy,

More spectacular than the special 3-D woodblocks or the fun penguin-themed toys!

We’ve sent cards to over 100 different locations and to kids in all types of situations;

But you’ll always be the first and we wanted to express our utmost appreciation.

#foreverthankful

Thanks again for everything, Ann & Robert H. LurieChildren’s Hospital of Chicago. A few people have seen the pictures and seen the impact, but we don’t think YOU realize how helpful you have been, overall. We just wanted to write you this LOVE NOTE so you knew exactly how we felt.

Here are some LOVELY pictures from prior events and when we dropped off cards!



          

#lovenote #upliftingspirits

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

A Bit Fuzzy

100% Open and Honest. We were looking back at some of our posts, and didn’t see our motto included, so we wanted to remind you all of our goal to always be “100% Open and Honest.” So, just so you know, we’ve only received positive feedback about all of the cards we’ve sent out. Also, we’ve received great pictures from some of the hospitals/shelters and have heard and seen some lovely stories. Even with all that positive news, we know there’s some potential negative issues with some of the tools that are being used to make the cards. We wanted to share with you some new guidelines. Please be aware that the person hosting an event may not have seen these guidelines yet, so be kind to each other – and simply direct them here for future event planning. WE RECOMMEND THAT PEOPLE COMPLETELY AVOID SPRINKLE GLITTER, FUZZ BALLS, FELT STICKERS, OR OTHER FUZZY MATERIALS.

Our first concern with these types of crafts is that they donn’t last. Often by the time the cards reach us here at Cardz for Kidz! a lot of those types of materials have already fallen off. Then when you think that we have to check them, then ship them to our locations there’s even more room for damage during transport. That’s why we previously told people to refrain from using beads, buttons, or bulky items. If you look closely at the bag below, you can see one of the cards lost a lot of its sparkle before the young boy even opened it up. 

Similar to a lot of children, and as confirmed by his mother, he was still excited to receive the cards, but it still wasn’t exactly what the artist intended it to be.

• Cardzforkidz: “…Looks like a little glitter is coming off, sorry about that!”
• Mother: “No biggie! Our daughter loved the glitter 😊”

While this child and parent didn’t have a problem, there’s still 30K+ other families who haven’t told us what they think! Based on that, and that we want all our cards to get to kids in one piece, we’re definitely leaning towards using glitter glue rather than sprinkle glitter.

But, now, where it comes a bit more serious, we have to ask, “what if?” We understand that with standard card stock, we don’t have to worry about transmitting germs as much. In addition, with stickers or decorations that attach firmly to that type of paper, we don’t have to worry about the cards falling apart or kiddos choking.

In addition, we heard from one hospital when they requested that we not send cards with glitter since that could impact patients’ breathing tubes. We haven’t heard anything from the other places we partner with, but we still think it’s something we should look out for.

Since we’re always a bit over protective of our kids, we’re asking that if you’re making cards to send to kids who are currently in-patients, that you don’t use fuzz balls, feathers or other little things that are NOT effectively attached to the cards. With buttons, if you can secure them tightly, then that works well! And, remember, the cards have to survive a couple of trips through the post office and our sorting process!

Since we haven’t heard back from the hospitals and/or shelters declining these types of materials, we understand we may be being a bit over protective, but we just wanted to get the word out, before it was a 100% must. So right now, will the kids still love those cards, YES. Will the hospitals or shelters still accept those cards, probably. Do we still want those types of cards? The answer to that is A BIT FUZZY right now. We’ll accept them, but we’d LOVE it if you could avoid those materials. Either way, to be on the safe side, we updated the Supplies list on our How-To page to only include supplies that will work best for the children.

#abitfuzzy #upliftingspirits

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