Helping All Around

• “How do you do it?!”
• “It’s hard to explain.”
• “No, give me an immediate answer! You get thousands of cards in so many languages and get them to kids across the globe without charging anyone. How?!”
• “Well…it’s a complicated process. It’s more of a…”
• “Two words. TELL ME IN TWO WORDS RIGHT NOW!”
• “Okay, okay. Ummm…Carla Neal.”

Let’s backtrack a little. We already decided our founder is no longer the nicest and lost his title (#notasnice). It’s just that now after looking into it a bit more, we think there’s new competition for that position. As we’ve been growing and changing, here are some of the ways that we’ve needed help and corresponding blog posts that back it up:

• Organically spreading the word about our organization: #sociallyactive, #whoyouretelling
• Helping us improve our global presence: #carryabitmore
• Inspiring other people to make cards in various languages: #nopeimallset, #marketconditions

Here’s something that would impress us – Someone who tells other people about our organization (since we don’t spend on advertising) in order to get people to make cards. Who then encourages others to participate and creates some encouraging cards for our disheartened children and seniors. On top of that, someone who carries a bit more during their travels would exceed our expectations.

What’s amazing about Carla is that not only has she completed all those wish list factors, but she’s done even more than that. Regarding telling others, she handles the process from start to finish. She gives people the cards to complete and even sends them the stamps and stickers with our address. In terms of the delivery, she not only went to the Ronald McDonald House in Brazil but went there and took pictures and sent them back to us so we could include that on our social media.

Unfortunately, we did not have enough cards in French to cover our kids in Quebec, Haiti and the kids she could have helped us reach in France. 

We’ve mentioned it before, but she’s helping by getting her family involved as well. Do you remember another mother daughter duo? Thankfully Carla has helped set up her mom, Sue, so she’s been able to send us over 1,600 cards as well. 

In addition, she’s worked with her connections to get us cards in our requested languages. For example, they helped contribute to our nearly empty Spanish box.

What about our Portuguese Ziploc bags – you’ll see they nearly have their own.

Then some of their cards have been included in our English section. After we told Carla that we couldn’t help with the delivery in France she said that she’d work with some of her connections to help get us more cards in French as well!

So how are we able to reach kids around the world in our spare time for free? It’s caring people like Carla. Well, not sure if we can say “people” because we’re not sure if there’s ever been one person who’s been HELPING ALL AROUND or in as many ways as Carla has, but we’re thankful that individual contributors have picked up pieces and contributed in many ways.

#upliftingspirits #helpingallaround

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 LinkedIn page! Also, check out some of our videos on YouTube!

We're Still Hopeful

You know what? Since our founder is our president and is helping to expand the board even more, we’re going to follow his rules. We’re strictly going to focus on the positive because we can’t complain, #cantcomplain. We’ll stick with our pledge that all blog posts must be 100% open and honest. Let’s see if we can somehow work the two of those together! 😊

For some background, it’s now official. On July 24^th we’re having our 5^th annual Pledge Allegiance event. How that works is that we’re trying to be creative and play on the July 4^th Pledge of Allegiance to the flag mantra and express our loyalty to our kids. The key difference with this fundraiser is that we’re not only asking people to make set donation amounts, but we’re also asking them to make a pledge (e.g. we’ll donate $1 per card that’s made during the event). If we get enough attendees and donations, we’ll be able to reach more kids with cards and reward our hospitals/homes with something extra for being great partners. Here’s part of the flyer:

Allegiance (n): devotion or loyalty to a person, group, or cause

Please join us as we pledge our allegiance to disheartened children.

One thing that makes this event extra special is our dedication to kids who are stuck in their rooms. With that in mind, we’ve been reaching out to more hospitals/homes and now need over 8,000 cards for our disheartened children and solemn seniors around the world. That doesn’t even include our special one-time deliveries of over 1,000 cards. To put that in perspective, in Q2 2018 we needed just less than 5,000! With this Pledge Allegiance event we’re saying that we’re striving to get as many people to make cards as possible. With that intention, we’ll be able to reach all our recipients. As mentioned in a Facebook Live post, we made a promise and we’ll stick to it no matter what! In that promise we told any hospital/home that if they took pictures of their staff and/or children with their cards for 3 quarters in a row then we would purchase a new portable video game system for them. These systems are made to help entertain kids who are stuck in their rooms! We’ll be sure to find a way to recognize the groups who have helped us reward our locations.

Thankfully after the Facebook Live announcement we included notes to our partner hospital/homes and have already started making some donations. The number of pictures has started increasing! As the number of locations has risen, some may question how we’ll find the funds to cover the cost these units. Here are some pictures we’ve received since we included a note about those GO Karts in our letters.

Here are the details:

·       Who’s Invited: EVERYONE! J

·       What’s Happening: Cardz for Kidz! will have art supplies set up for people to make cards for children around the world. Every quality card made will help raise funds to help those children in our partner hospitals/shelters.

·       When’s the Party: Wednesday, July 24^th, from 6:00–9:00pm

·       Where’s the Party: Moe’s Cantina, 155 W Kinzie, Chicago, IL

·       Why You Should Help: Our #1 goal is to deliver as many quality cards as possible. For this fundraiser we’re asking supporters to pledge a card donation. So, each card made during the party will uplift the spirit of a child AND help raise funds for children around the world!

·       How You Can Help: Attend the party and make a couple of cards and/or pledge to make a per card donation, https://go.rallyup.com/pledgeallegiance5.

Being honest, but no complaining! 😊 Here’s a Facebook Live post from a prior event – Link Here.

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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 LinkedIn page! Also, check out some of our videos on YouTube!