Hi all. The weather is getting cooler and holiday time is right around the corner. We are back for the 6th year for our annual Caring Hearts Card Drive. The purpose of our card drive is to collect holiday cards for the elderly that lives in nursing homes. I started this card drive 6 years ago, in 2010 in honor of my mom. That first year, we collected 750 cards. And each year it continue to grow bigger. Last year we received over 17,000 cards and branched out to Australia!! It was such an amazing year.
Jennifer McGuire and I are excited to continue this journey and we really hoping that we can bring holiday cheers to many, many more nursing homes.
We have a few ladies helping us in collecting the cards. Tina Schrof is working with Jennifer in collecting the cards. Since international shipping is expensive, those of you in Canada can mail your cards to Anita or Caroline and they'll distribute the cards. And, for those of you in Australia, you can send to Linda. :)
The holidays are about family, kindness, and joy. During this time many of the elderly who lives in nursing homes would really feel the loneliness or missing their family. Wouldn't it be so awesome if we can bring a smile to their face & brighten their holiday season simply by sharing our love of card making? A simple gesture to let them know that they are not forgotten. That someone still thinking of them.
We all love making cards and what’s better than knowing our creations can bring a smile to others, right? Some helpful people already agree to help us deliver the cards to selected nursing homes.
A few important details:
- This card drive will be going on from October 3 to November 27, 2015. We need to receive your card by November 27, 2015.
- Please make the cards for Christmas or Holiday Wishes. Anyone can send a card, your children, church group, scout troops, etc.
- All cards need to have a message in it (it can be stamped or hand written).
- Please sign your name and where you are from (inside the card).
- Please include an envelope for each card and please don't seal the envelope.
- Please stick to just cards (standard size A2 or 4-1/4" x 5-1/2")
- And please don't use any pins (safety reason).
- This is totally optional. But, if you'd like to include $1 or $2 to help with shipping, it'll be much appreciated. We cover the shipping cost ourselves, with no sponsor, so any donation toward shipping would help tremendously.
- Vera Yates, 1314 Roy St., Houston, TX 77007
- Tina Schrof , 185 W. Pugh Drive, Springboro, OH 45066
- Linda Langes, c/o Gilston State School, 588 Worongary Road, GILSTON QLD 4211, Australia
- Piney-fine, Attn: Anita, P.O. Box 30, Piney, MB R0A 1K0, Canada
- Caroline Bredeson, 7 Brown Street, Ottawa, ON K1S 1L9, Canada
To thank you for your generosity in supporting this drive, we have several PRIZES ready for several winners. There will be many winners and remember… the more cards you send the better your chances. :)
There's a Caring Hearts Q&A Post as well, that hopefully answer any additional question your might have.
Also, if you 'd like to help us promote the card drive, whenever you're sharing your projects for Caring Hearts on social media, please use the hashtag #caringheartscarddrive. Hey, wouldn't it be so cool if we can make kindness trending?
Edited to add: The nursing homes that we supported are based on what people suggested to us. If you want your local nursing homes to receive cards from the card drive, please email me or Jennifer the name of the nursing homes and the number of residents, so we can make sure that we send enough cards. Each year, we never know how many nursing homes we can support as the number are totally based on how many cards we received. To keep things organized, we assigned the 5 collecting addresses above. This way we can keep track of the amount of cards as well as for prize purpose.
I'll update the prize list as more prizes coming in. And huge thank you to all the fabulous, generous companies who support this card drive by donating awesome prizes.
Avery Elle - $30 GC
a2z Scrapbooking - $25 GC
A Jillian Vance Design - $20 GC
Butterfly Reflections Ink - $25 GC
Clearly Besotted - £30 (approx. US $45) GC
Crafter's Companion USA - $25 GC
CutCardStock.com - $50 GC
Ellen Hutson - $50 GC
Gina K. Designs - $100 GC
Hallmark Scrapbook & Crafts - $50 GC
Hero Arts - $50 GC
Honey Bee Stamps - Two $25GC
Jane's Doodle - $75 GC
Jennifer McGuire Ink - 10 fabulous stamps from her favorite company
Jennifer McGuire - Online Card Classes - class of your choice - 3 winners
Just Dandy Studio - $25 GC
Latina Crafter - $40 GC
Lawn Fawn - $50 GC
Lil' Inkers Designs - $35 GC
Litte Things from Lucy's Cards - 8 bags of Sparkly Shaker Selection
Mama Elephant - $25 GC
Mint Owl Studio - $25 GC
My Favorite Things - $50 GC
Newton's Nook Design - $25 GC
Organize More - $75 GC
Pink & Main - $25 GC
Pretty Pink Posh - Two $25 GC
Ranger Ink - $50 Prize pack
Reverse Confetti - $25 GC
Richard Garay - Celebration Prize Pkg
Sarah Rigby (Stampin Up!) - $25 GC + $25 gift pack
Spectrum Noir - $25 GC
SugarPea Designs - $25 GC
Sweet Stamp Shop - Two $25 GC
Taylored Expressions - $50 GC
Technique Tuesday - You're So Sweet Stamp Set
The Ribbon Resource - $20 GC
Verve Stamps - $30 GC
Waffle Flower Crafts - $65 GC
Waltzing Mouse Stamps - £25 (approx. US $38) GC
Winnie & Walter - $50 GC
Paper Crafter's Corner - Box of goodies $75 value
I will update the prize list as I get more. :) Please feel free to share about this card drive. We really appreciate your support & generosity. Let's rock this card drive and bring Christmas joy to as many nursing homes as we can!! Thank you.
PS: Thank you to Chaitali Narla for designing the badge. :)
41 comments:
Brilliant! Can't wait to get going in Melbourne, Australia!
Deb.xx
Hi Vera, would love to join in, so glad theres someone here in Australia to send them too. Good luck with it all.
Woohoo very happy to be part of this again this year Vera. Can't wait to see all the wonderful cards arriving for the Aussie Nursing Homes. So special!
I'm looking forward to sending more cards this year! I've put the Caring Hearts Logo on the sidebar of my blog to spread the word! Thanks for all of your hard work (along with everyone else) in making the holidays brighter for the elderly!
I LOVE this card drive and will happily be a part of it again this year! Thanks VERA for ALL your hard work! You ROCK!!!
Awesome, will start working on the cards today :)
Thank you for doing this card drive Vera!! Last year was my first year participating and I really enjoyed it!!
Excited to join in this worthy cause again this year. Thanks for doing it!
Will have a big bunch out to you next week. Awesome you are doing this.
So happy to partipate again this year! Wonderful effort!
I know the post says A4 size cards but I also have several A7 size cards I could send if you can accept them or know of another group that could take them.
I can accept them. I'll distribute those to my local nursing homes. 😊 Thank you.
This is a wonderful thing to do. I participated last year. Can you please share with us how you determine what nursing homes benefit from this? You could not answer that last year. I understand this drive creates a lot of work and I offered to help last year, but got shunned away. I think it is important that nursing homes in all of the donors hometowns are included. I think I might just submit directly to my local area this time around. But, thought I would share I am contributing. Smiles, Tracie
Dear Vera hi! This is a great cause and I'll do my best to send cards! I will be shipping internationally so I hope they will be there on time! Many greetings from Greece and thank you for this great card drive and for the awesome giveaways!
What an awesome card drive. I just started card making this year, so I had not heard of it before. I will definitely be sending you some cards!
Is it preferable to send cards with envelopes or just the cards themselves? Sorry for the silly question. Thanks!
Please send card with envelope as listed on the detail. Thank you. :)
Basically people who wants their local nursing homes to receive cards emailed me or Jennifer the info. We need the nursing home name & the number of residents. When the cards collected, we packaged the cards to that person and they help bringing the cards directly to the nursing homes. If you want your local one to receive cards, just let us know. Thank you.
Vera, I just moved to Houston area and glad to know there is another die hard crafter like myself out there making the holiday bright for others! I am all in!
Vera I just saw your post that I can send some A7 cards to you. I just sent this morning to Tina a pkg of 30 cards. Will send some to you in a couple of weeks.
This a wonderful drive for providing cards to brighten the lives of many. Thanks again for providing a way to share our cards. I will be sending some soon.
Does it have to be handmade, or can we send store-bought cards?
Preferably handmade, since our goal is bringing joy through our love of card making. 😊
I did this last year and will be making cards again this year. It warms my heart to think I am making someone smile.
Always so wonderful that you do this, Vera! <3
Are religious cards welcome?
Yes. 😊
Is it okay if I send some cards now and some more later? Or should I send a lot of them at once. If I'd did send some more now and some more later how do you want me to do the submission form. (This is my first year doing this and I saw it on the Lawn Fawn blog.)
Absolutely. You can send some now & later. Just include the form with each package. Thank you!!
Hi! I am so excited about this project. I recently lost my grandmother, and this looks like a great project to contribute to.
Such an awesome and important idea!
I am collecting money from my "non-crafty" friends to help with shipping/postage. Who do I make checks out to?
Please make the check to whichever address you mail the cards to. If it's to mr, then you make it to me, if it's to Tina then make it to Tina, this way whoever received your package can deposit & cash the check. Thank you for doing this. It really help us with postagr fee.
I definitely want to join in on this !
I look forward to contributing too. I will try to make these before making ours, so that they will arrive in plenty of time.
Sorry for my stupid question, but when you say to sign our name and where we're from, do you mean on the back of the card or inside, after the message?
THANK YOU ALL for coordinating this wonderful card drive and help us share the LOVE :)
Vera, I haven't missed a year yet...I'm so thrilled you are doing this again! Thank you!
I loved contributing last year - I'll get started on cards right away.
What a FABULOUS project you have created!
I worked at Carriage Court in Hilliard, OH and this would be wonderful for those residents as a lot of them have no family.
I will definitely be sending you some cards! I just watched Jennifer's YouTube and what a wonderful thing you are all doing!
Thank You,
Lori Manicho
OH
Inside. 😊
I just stumbled upon your blog post..hope I am not too late in sending some cards..
Sign our name on the inside of the cards?
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