Cardz for Kidz! Uplifting Spirits, One Card at a Time

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Solemnly Swear

'Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?'
'I do'

With this post we’re giving away the punchline in the beginning, but we’re making a promise… That we might regret later! We promise that we’ll post pictures on at least one of our social sites of the cards that we receive from the different groups and/or independent artists. Seeing it from our perspective, we get thousands of cards each quarter. Often people don’t sign their names on the cards and the vast majority of people do not sign what group they’re a part of, but no matter what we'll try. Here’s a special situation.

Originally the purpose of posting the Top 10 cards per event was to help us remember where the cards came from. Since we make a big deal about inviting the top artists to come to Lurie Children's Hospital to play games with patients, after the judge selected the OVERALL Top 10 we could just look through our Top 10 cards per event album on Facebook and find those cards. Then we contact our point person and work to get a hold of those artists.

Now, based on our promise, we can work together to make sure those pictures have a dual meaning. First, as mentioned, we’ll be able to find the artists at the end of the quarter. Second, for your sake, you’ll be able to tell if the person running your event actually sent the cards, Seal the Deal.

Thankfully, we saw some pictures people posted on Instagram and other sites about their cards. We double checked our records and noticed that we never got cards from that group. Then there’s another time where we recall we checked in with a group because we happened to be in the area. They confirmed they happened to have just made some cards. Turns out it was 150+ cards that were for a holiday that passed a couple months ago.

But, we do want to make it clear that we understand it’s a bit harder to host an event and we’re very grateful. We’re always trying to ease the process (e.g. put together a sheet that has links to Amazon where you can purchase the art supplies).

Even more importantly, we work to make sure that the people who have helped get the events up and running at the different groups get the first choice on whether or not they’d like to attend the Cardz WITH Kidz event if their group makes 1000+ cards.

Thanks again, Trevor!

All in all, we’re thankful for everyone who steps up to take the lead on hosting an event with their friends, coworkers and or just themselves. We understand depending on the size, prepping for the first one can be at times a bit intimidating. But, we know that it is A LOT of fun and very rewarding to participate in Cardz for Kidz! since you get to use markers and glitter pens AND know you’re impacting a child. In order to help make sure the second part stays true, we SOLEMNLY SWEAR to do everything possible to post pictures of cards we receive whether or not there’s enough to post a Top 10. Actually, to make it even more official, we pinky promise we will! Here's an example-

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

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Socially Connected

Recently, our founder and Director of Strategic Outreach were discussing how Cardz for Kidz! needs to expand our social presence. For that, the Director connected with some of his personal contacts and learned that Snapchat was rapidly expanding and that we were missing out on a lot of potential connections by not having a presence there.

Here are our current sites:

Then, of course, we have to modify our website at least once a quarter based on the Participants tab. For some insider information, one tool we use to reduce the time needed to stay connected is Hootsuite. The benefit is that we are able to post on Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter all through Hootsuite.

Similar to Instagram, we don’t think we’d be able to simply schedule posting of videos in the evening to post the next day if we decide to use Snapchat. No matter what, if staying SOCIALLY CONNECTED by creating a Snapchat account will help us create more smiles, we’ll get to work. Keep an eye out on our other social sites and website for an announcement for Snapchat.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

True Princess

Here we go again… Some more 100% open and honesty. To tell you the truth, if someone read all our blog posts, they’d know EVERYTHING about ANYTHING related to Cardz for Kidz!. Unfortunately, when we were checking the viewership, we noticed that not too many people have seen the posts. Either way we’re going to keep at it and keep our fingers crossed that someone special will see one of our special posts…..Maybe this one!

More honesty. If you think about it, it probably should be a BIG deal if your card gets selected into the OVERALL Top 10. For example, in Q2 2016, we received over 2,500 cards. Those came from groups ranging from Girlson the Run in Alaska to AAFCS in Alabama. We receive some AMAZING cards from universities, creative agencies, and retired educators. If you can say, “Even with all that, I made it in the OVERALL Top 10, was voted into the Top 3 ,AND was invited to come to deliver my card to a patient”, that’d be impressive.

Now, here’s another way you can help… Bald Disney princesses. If you make a quality card with bald Disney princesses on card stock, we promise we’ll hold your card to the final round. We work with children with all kinds of disorders ranging from real bad colds to cancer and we’re not showing favoritism. We think each illness is tough and each child deserves a card. But, we’re willing to help more if you help uplift a pediatric cancer patient.

It’s unfortunate. While we were looking for this picture, again, we saw it was on a blog post where someone wrote how horrible it is and how they hated it. We read through it a bit more and the second reason why was that the author felt people were just thinking, ‘That’s a cute pic, it’s a shame people have cancer’ and moving on. Based on our request, that won’t be true. You’ll actually be taking the time to make an uplifting card for a disheartened child rather than simply commenting on a picture. Therefore, you’ll be making a difference. In addition, at the end of the post, a couple of women who had cancer commented on how they loved this picture. With that in mind you’re helping out.

Now, we’d love it if there’s someone who could make at least two of these cards. One of them will be set aside and automatically put into the running for the OVERALL Top 10. Sorry, it’ll still be the judges’ choice if it makes it. Then, please reach out to us and we’ll give you the name and you can make a card for another TRUE PRINCESS we know and we’ll send the card to her.

#TruePrincess #UpliftingSpirits

P.S. Just to clarify, our people often get confused, but our hashtag is true - Every Card Counts. It actually has a double meaning. In summary, we count where each card is coming from and where it’s going to AND since each hospital promises they’ll deliver it to a patient’s room, every card is important. We just make a big deal about the Top 10 and Top 3 artists because those people are invited to come make cards and play games during the Cardz WITH Kidz events. Don’t worry, even if your card isn’t in the Top 10, it’s still producing a smile.

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Know the Results

Recently there was a conversation between some of our “staff” and our intern while we were setting up the new Patreon site, www.patreon.com/CardzforKidz. The baseline for this discussion was how can we start to increase donations without scaring away current participants.

This conversation was primarily sparked as we now have international shipping fees based on our partnerships with special locations in Canada and Mexico (Dr Sonrisas, St Joseph’s Health Center, and Reseau Selecion).

We’re trying to think of creative ways to raise funds besides our Donate page and our GoFund Me page. Also, as we point out on ALL of our videos Cardz for Kidz! is completely free for everyone…..but us. So, yes, thanks to some people (e.g. David and Shante), some groups have been able to provide the best of both worlds – cash & cards, but as expected that’s been rare.

Since we’ve received a bunch of cards from Central America, we decided to do a test package to Honduras! After our test shipment of cards to that country, we realized that although those smiles are priceless, it’s VERY expensive and hard to do! Therefore, we’ll likely have to revert to our original plan and hope that people are willing to Carry a Bit More.

As you can see, now that we’re shipping cards to our northern and southern neighbors, as well as increasing the number of destinations in the USA, our shipping costs are continually increasing. Finally, we have our promise that we’ll make sure that every destination we work with has at least one DVD player and the Lion King and we agreed we’d help another hospital make sure they always have enough Beanie Babies to fill Noah’s Ark.

Now, even with all of that talk about how essential monetary donations are, we still think cards are better are both ends. So here we go with more of our “100% open and honest” talk. We’ll give you a glimpse into our backend analysis for Q2 2016 as of 6/29/16.

$520 for shipping fees
$222 Cardz for Kidz! stickers for the back of cards
$14 transportation to and from the children’s hospital

Unfortunately, as of June 29^th we had received only $65 in donations in Q2 2016. Now the distinct benefit of delivering a card is, you know, the results! Every hospital, shelter and/or home that we partner with understands that they need to deliver all the cards room to room.

With that official pinky promise in mind, you know that as long as you don’t write ‘Get Well Soon’, your card is going to impact and reach a disheartened child.

In summary, we’d love it if some of the corporations and groups we partner with added financial support, (please note how we used added not replaced) but we still think creating quality cards is what’s most rewarding for everyone involved. With those card donations, you KNOW THE RESULTS of your labor will be a smile.

#KnowTheResults #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 or pictures on Instagram!

Friday, June 24, 2016

Streets of Chicago

Now this is something that’s going to be obvious for A LOT of people, but did you know that just because a company’s logo is on the outside of a building, it doesn’t mean that the company owns the entire building?!?! :)

For some folks who grew up in small towns, when arriving in big cities, like Chicago, you are amazed by the skylines. There are SO many tall buildings. Some with names/logos that you see ALL over TV and others that you’ve never heard of before. One thing that’s interesting is that those companies often only have a certain number of floors in the building and sign agreements with the real estate companies that if they rent/buy a certain amount, that their logo will go up on the outside of the building as additional advertising/marketing.

Here’s how it connects with Cardz for Kidz! in two manners. First, you can now note, although there are nearly 50 logos up on our site, more than 50 groups have joined in to help make over 20,000 cards! Also, while walking around downtown Chicago it’s fun to see some of the logos that are on the sides of buildings up on our site. Here are just a couple examples.

Huron Consulting Group

Morningstar

Now while you’re walking through the STREETS OF CHICAGO or other big cities, you’ll notice a bunch of logos on the side of buildings, but please note, similar to our Participants tab, there are many other vital contributors who help keep the building up and running.

#StreetsOfChicago #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!

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Love Our Neighbors

Since Cardz for Kidz! started in Chicago, as expected, the majority of our cards have been sent to hospitals in the Midwest (as of April 2016 – 53% of cards were delivered within the Midwest). Recently, we’ve been striving to get more hospitals in an array of locations. In order to make that evident, we worked with the developers of our website to make sure that people can drag the map around so you can see ALL of our locations. For example, when you draaggggg the map, you can see our 4 destinations in Africa.

It’s actually interesting that we’ve shipped a total of 1,210 cards to children or seniors outside our 50 states. Thankfully, we know this number will consistently grow since we have lasting partnerships with our bordering neighbors - Mexico and Canada.

Canada – St Joseph Health Center – an overall hospital in Canada with a pediatric department that requests approximately 25 cards a quarter.
Canada – Reseau Selection – a senior retirement home in Quebec that strictly wants cards in French.
Mexico – Dr. Sonrisas – an organization that works to change children across Mexico’s pain and suffering to moments of hope and happiness.

No matter what, we’ll continue to find ways to work with individuals to carry a bit more so we can send cards to some distinct destinations. Here are some examples:

Bernard Mevs Dagbe One Village

While we do have those special deliveries, thankfully we’ve been able to LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS and consistently send cards to Canada and Mexico. Pictures coming soon.

#LoveOurNeighbors #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!

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Take Off

“Wonder what will happen this time!” That’s what our founder thought as he boarded his EXTREMELY delayed flight back to Michigan. This was sparked because during a recent flight from Toronto the airline was having problems with a lot of their flights. They ALL were delayed hours. During this wait, he sparked a conversation with a couple consultants from Duke University. When he responded “I started a non-profit” after their standard “What do you do?” question, they immediately desired to learn more. Soon after, one of the two ladies had already started planning out when and where they’d start to introduce Cardz for Kidz!.

Now what makes this a bit more exciting is another story about Minnesota State University. They first heard about Cardz for Kidz! during a prior trip to the airport. The founder stepped into a conversation after he heard they worked with students. They began talking about how their students had made cards in the past and would like to make some again. As of April 6, 2016, Minnesota State has made a total of 438 cards; of the 80+ participants they’re one of the Top 10 groups.

Now, if he could just make conversations on the train or bus lead to mass amounts of cards then we wouldn’t have any shortages in Q3!! J …so if you meet someone who might be interested in Cardz for Kidz!, don’t hesitate to let them know. We appreciate all the help we can get! It’s been through word-of-mouth marketing that our organization has been able to TAKE OFF.

#UpliftingSpirits #TakeOff

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!