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

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Socially Active

Here we go again! More 100% openness and honesty! When Cardz for Kidz! originally started, we weren’t expecting there to be a website and/or for us to have actual Cardz for Kidz! email addresses (e.g. info@cardzforkidz.org). Not sure who has it, but originally, we wanted our standard email address to be cardzforkidz@gmail.com. Unfortunately that was already taken so we made it makecardzforkidz@gmail.com. In order to stay up to date on all the social activity we linked that account to our personal email addresses. Now here’s where the honesty comes in. At times, we think we’re personally cool based on our Twitter activity, but actually, A LOT of that activity is for Cardz for Kidz! and is sparked by Elizabeth Pittelkow.

Since we’re visual people too, here are some examples:

Yes, there were some notifications we received from hospitals and/or other groups (Girl Scouts tweet wouldn’t fit in the screenshot). You’ll see @pittelkow either liked, mentioned, or retweeted a tweet about us four times within a couple days.

OK, so now there are some people who are “haters” and may try to claim, “Look at the small sample size AND you know what?!?! Only a THIRD of those are Elizabeth’s tweets!! PLUS that screenshot doesn’t include a bunch of tweets from @GirlScouts that you can’t see!!” Yes that’s true, but let’s not forget that she’s contributed to Cardz for Kidz! in many ways! Here’s an example:

Elizabeth helped spark and retain our connection with AICPA. Sorry “haters”, three more of the tweets from our screenshot were sparked by an AICPA tweet. This was on one of their cards:

Q) What does a nosey pepper do?

A) Gets jalapeno business!

So by adding those tweets were at approximately 50% of the tweets in the prior screenshot. If AICPA wasn’t enough, we have the entire blog post and verb for Arrowstream and Elizabeth was a big part of that group too.

Based on her consistent participation on impacting the lives of disheartened children across the globe, you can say she’s SOCIALLY ACTIVE and giving back to her community. If you look at the amount of tweets, retweets, replies, and likes, once again, you can say she’s SOCIALLY ACTIVE and has a great presence in social media. Either way you look at that phrase, we’re thankful!

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, November 5, 2015

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

Thursday, October 29, 2015

That's Not Fair

We decided that it was time to modify our new verb. Now we’ll simply call it Stream (-ing, -ed, -s). For example, we could say “that group has been streaming it!” As we highlighted in our blog post New Definition, that verb refers to a group that consistently makes cards every quarter without us requesting that they do so. The group with the most consecutive quarters started with Arrowstream, which is the group that actually sparked the verb. Mindshare followed, and is currently with Millward Brown.

Why, you might ask? As always, we’re going to be 100% open and honest. As discussed in the blog post, Working Together, and as you can see below, Millward Brown had multiple offices across the United States making cards together.

And, we received a set of cards made by their offices in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala!

That’s a total of nearly 10 different offices in 4 different countries that have made cards!!!

“THAT’S CHEATING” is what some groups may think. Understood. Mindshare AND Arrowstream set their records of 5+ quarters with simply one office! But we have to say one benefit of Millward Brown is they’ve been able to inspire several offices to make cards - even though the cards may not be delivered to children in their cities. So while other groups may look at MB’s record and say ‘THAT’S NOT FAIR’, we’re just simply amazed at how they’ve worked together to produce smiles!!!

#ThatsNotFair #UpliftingSpirits

Stream - Independently hosting Cardz for Kidz! events without any member of the organization checking in to see if they are still interested and/or requesting cards for a special event.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Now You Know

Do you have any idea of ALL the different reasons kids are admitted into the hospital? There’s a wide array of conditions children are born with or develop, but as touched on in a prior post, there are accidents too!

Here are some of the stories we’ve received that we’ve included in previous blog posts:

With all those stories we decided to do some Google searching for other facts and stories about kids.

Now, we know we can’t reach ALL children who are disheartened, but our goal is to reach AS MANY as possible. Unfortunately the amount of kids who need your cards is consistently growing. Before this post, did you know how much we need your help? Well…..NOW YOU KNOW!

Check out our “How-To” page to get ideas and/or our “Donate” page to help cover our other expenses. Thanks in advance for your help!

#NowYouKnow #UpliftingSpirits #EveryCardCounts

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Accidentally on Purpose

Here are some of Cardz for Kidz! most impressive factors:

We’ve been mentioned on Twitter by global executives
Some of the most influential companies (e.g. Google) have participated
We’ve received cards from 3 different continents
We’ve produced over 15,000 cards!!

Pretty impressive, right?!?!

Thinking about it, you’d imagine this was sparked by some professionals who went to Indiana University for Masters in non-profit management OR a group of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit nurses with decades of experience working with potentially disheartened children.

Unfortunately or fortunately, neither of those are correct. Actually, it was started by a guy who was stressed about being too busy. During his “free time”, he was volunteering at the city’s largest pediatric hospital, one of the team leaders at a children’s church, AND planning a national conference for young adults across the country, for which he had to plan site-seeing, community service, and in-house activities. At one point, he thought, ‘I wish I could just pull all of my extracurricular activities together.’ Then, it hit him. Why not have these young adults work with the kids from the church to make cards for the kids at the hospital?!?! He did, and it was a hit with everyone. Next, he took it to his job. Then, he got his sister company involved. In May 2014, Cardz for Kidz! officially became a 501 (c)(3) certified non-profit.

Usually, when people are starting a non-profit or a small businesses, it’s planned out. They have an idea and either work independently or with a team to discover the next steps to accomplish their mission and become successful. This is the backbone to obtain notoriety, growth, and support from either investors or participants. That’s how it’s “supposed” to work. But, Cardz for Kidz! broke the rules!

Currently, Cardz for Kidz! has grown to impact children in 7 different countries. But, we’re not giving the founder and/or “staff” too much credit, because it’s the people who execute these events that are really ESSENTIAL. This is how Cardz for Kidz! operates: interested participants reach out via email to info@cardzforkidz.org or fill out the information section on www.cardzforkidz.org/contactus Then, those people set up a “card-making” event at their jobs, schools, or within community groups. They purchase the supplies, provide instructions on the content on the cards (i.e. what not to write on the cards), select the Top 10, then ship all the cards to the “staff” at Cardz for Kidz!. You see, they’re really doing all the heavy lifting! #ForeverThankful

Over the past 5 years, Cardz for Kidz! has organically grown with over 30 groups participating. Thanks to a team effort, this organization is now an official certified non-profit. However, to be 100% open and honest, none of this was planned during the first few events! But, this non-profit that was ACCIDENTALLY STARTED ON PURPOSE has made an impact on thousands and thousands of people. So, please consider making an “accident” soon, too!

#AccidentallyOnPurpose #UpliftingSpirits

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Long Term.Continual Impact

As touched as we were in the prior post, Carry a Bit More, we had a great time delivering some of the cards to a hospital in Nigeria. Also, as described in that post, the majority of our international deliveries are directly sparked from someone we knew who hand delivered those cards in other countries. Now we already described what we want to be, When We Grow Up, but we figure since we’ve only been around 5 years so we’re still a child. Therefore, it is OK to set a dream for our adolescent years! :)

Although we just received a set of cards from THREE of Millward Brown’s offices in Central America, the VAST majority of our cards are made AND delivered right here in the United States. The only way we can get cards to the majority of the international destinations is through personal delivery. So we’re asking folks to let us know when they’re traveling abroad. That’s how we sent cards to 5 of the 7 countries we’ve reached; Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Colombia and Mexico (unfortunately we weren’t able to get pictures from Colombia).

So our long term dream is to be able to start a scholarship for kids who’ve been hospitalized and are trying to go to college, but in the short term, we’d love to independently launch Cardz for Kidz! in multiple countries. With that in place, we wouldn’t ask people in Central America to pay for postage to ship their cards to us directly here in the States. We wouldn’t have to keep our fingers crossed that someone remembers to contact us when they’re traveling. Just like here in the United States, kids across the globe could be impacted on a regular basis.

Don’t worry, we understand that not everyone can take running this non-profit as serious as our team does. So maybe they wouldn’t track stats like in Q2 2015, 33.3% of cards were made by B-to-B companies? And 462 cards were sent to kids in the Midwest in Q1 2015. Or on average, dating back to Q4 2011, we’ve experienced a 31% growth in the amount of cards made per quarter. That’s OK!! If we could simply have someone to collect the cards, double check them, then send them to a hospital in their area that’d be great. Now it’d be perfect if they sent a picture of the Top 10 and told us the exact amount made per group, but we understand that’s a bit over the top! :)

In summary, our immediate goal is to be able to work with individuals/groups in various countries to make a LONG TERM/CONTINUAL IMPACT on kids across the globe.

#LongTermContinualImpact #UpliftingSpirits

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Carry A Bit More

Our Mission: “Cardz for Kidz! is an organization dedicated to uplifting the spirits of hospitalized and/or traumatized children across the globe by delivering inspiring homemade cards!”

….ACROSS THE GLOBE….this blog post is dedicated to that portion of our mission statement. As touched on in a prior blog post, Both Inside and Out, we’ve been shipping cards to MANY countries. For example, in August, we sent cards to children in the Oncology and Neurology floors at the National Institute of Pediatrics (INP) in Mexico City and to the pediatric patients at Living Word Hospital in Aba, Nigeria.

To be honest, from what we heard we sparked a slight disagreement at Living Word! J That location is a school for children and has a hospital which serves pediatric patients ranging from babies to adolescents. The head of the hospital took us on a tour and first we delivered some Happy Birthday cards to several of the newborn babies.

Later we went to deliver some cards to other pediatric patients.

We provided a total of 70 cards and told them they could deliver them to new patients when they arrive. Later we walked with the head of the hospital and met with the director of the school - the school WANTED some cards for their students too. Unfortunately for her, the hospital claimed dibs and were NOT going to give up their cards. We promised the school we’d bring another batch soon.

Usually, we have to ship all of our cards to the hospitals. In fact, we recently held a fundraiser, Pledge Allegiance, in order to raise funds to help with our shipping fees. Can you imagine the cost of shipping cards to Mexico AND Nigeria? How confident are you that big packages would successfully make it to hospitals in those countries? That’s a lot to worry about. Thankfully, we didn’t have to! It helps to have connections - Dr. Adiele Nwankwo and Rebeca Gutiérrez took a total of 120 cards in their carry-ons with them during their international trips. We are grateful for their help.

Quick favor. Take a look at our website, www.cardzforkidz.org and click on the map and drag it over to left to see the special smile images. Those 4 destinations in Africa were all hand delivered . In addition, for our cards to Haiti, we send the cards to a hospital in Florida and their staff take them ontheir next trip to Haiti.

Now we can say we’ve delivered cards to 7 different countries and that’s primarily driven by people delivering the cards during their trips.

If you go back to the map on our homepage you’ll find an image of hospitals/shelters in the USA, Haiti, Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, and Mexico. We know what you’re thinking, “that’s only 6 countries and 6 is less than 7.” For some background, a friend volunteered to take a set of cards with them during their trip to Colombia. Their tour guide highlighted how there was a hospital near his house and how those would be perfect. Unfortunately, we were unable to get a hold of him to find the name of the hospital. So we know the country and area, but since we don’t know the EXACT hospital we didn’t include it – 100% open and honest.

We’re consistently trying to reach kids across the globe. So during your next international trip, please let us know if you can CARRY A BIT MORE in your carry on bag!

#CarryABitMore #UpliftingSpirits