Cards for a Cause - Ronald McDonald House Donation

I finally ordered and received another set of 1000 plastic sleeves and this time I added larger sized sleeves in order to prepare the large heap of non-A2 sized cards I've been holding on to.

So, without further ado, I'm going to let the pictures tell their own story of how another 229 cards made their way to the Los Angeles Ronald McDonald House tonight after work.

Most of these cards were donated by my friend Wendy C from her DT days.  They're gorgeous!

And a large portion was donated by my blogging friend Lynn McAuley.  For those of you familiar with her work, you'll recognize many of these Lynn classics!

And here are the rock star notebooks with pen holder my friend Quynh made!

I met this lovely lady, Suzie, at the Los Angeles Ronald McDonald House tonight after work.  She was so thrilled at all the cards and then she ohhed and ahhed when going through the cards.

The larger box is the general everyday themes such as Thank You's, Thinking of You, I Miss You, Get Better/You're Brave type of cards.  The smaller box is full of holiday themed cards such as Valentines, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas that they can put out later on in the year.

Susie told me that they've never received HANDMADE card donations before.  Whoohoo, we're the first ladies!

I'll have to admit, this location is the most gritty of all the RMH locations I've visited as it's to the East of Downtown LA.

This one is definitely the LARGEST of all the RMH locations I've visited with a very large children's area.  They are in two large buildings and can house up to 75 families.

Within that 3-4 block radius, it was thick with lots of hospitals, i.e. Kaiser, Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, and acute care nursing facilities.  I've never seen so many located in clusters like this before! As I was walking around, I saw quite a few small children, no more than 7 years old, running around with various types of bandages.  Bless them and I hope they're getting better.

Thank you stampers of SplitCoast Stampers and my crafting friends for your generous donations to make a difference in those battling serious cardiac and cancer related illnesses.  

 ******************************************************

RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE MISSION: To provide a community where children and their families embrace life and healing (from cancer) with a sense of hope, enthusiasm, courage and joy. 

Los Angeles Ronald McDonald House 

4560 Fountain Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90029

2015 Donations to Other National RMH Locations = 118 Cards
2015 Cards Collected for Donation to Pasadena RMH = 175

2015 Cards Collected for Donation to Long Beach RMH = 160

2015 Cards Collected for Donation to Orange County RMH = 250

2015 Cards Collected for Donation to Children's Hospital Orange County (CHOC) = 50

2015 Cards Collected for Donation to (Hollywood) Los Angeles RMH = 229

2015 TOTAL = 982 Cards Donated 

I have chosen to adopt these various Southern California locations around the Greater Los Angeles areas to donate cards that I create and collect from friends.  

My next RMH location for donation will be back to Pasadena, CA. 

SEEKING THESE CARD THEMES:  Anything other than religious, make them uplifting, thinking of you, children themes, etc.  Cards with no sentiments are perfectly acceptable too. Examples of themes: Welcome Baby Card / Wedding / Sympathy Card / Birthday / Thinking of You/ Thank you / Missing you. 

WANT TO DONATE:  Please leave a comment here with your email, and I'll reply to you with my home address.  

By forwarding to me or any of our other monthly hostesses throughout the US, you'll allow our group of ladies over at the SCS community to tally the number of cards donated and lives impacted.  Check out our Call for Cards here. 

 DETAILS:
1. Cards need to use good quality cardstock- HEAVY WEIGHT--- (so the card can stand alone) and include a minimum of two layers and one embellishment.  

2. IF you use colorful / dark cardstock—please line the inside of the card with either white or vanilla paper so the guests can write in them using black/blue pen.

3. If you place a sentiment inside—repeat the sentiment and place on copy paper so that it can be added inside the back of the sleeve-so the individual can see if there is a “saying” on the inside or it is “blank” 

4. If you would like to include envelopes and sleeves it would be greatly appreciated - sleeve IS NOT necessary.  What's a sleeve?  Click here for example. 

Nevertheless, I'll be preparing each card by inserting them and a matching envelopes inside individual clear A2 sized sealable envelopes in to keep the card clean and in pristine shape to allow the RMH recipients to handle and make their selection. 

                        ******************************************************
   

I'd love it if you'd like to donate some of your cards to this cause.   Please contact me for my mailing address! 

Thank you for visiting!! 

Cards for a Cause - Ronald McDonald House Donation

Life is still pretty crazy busy and all I can do is just keep knocking out items one by one to get as much done as possible.

I had an all day work conference this past week that would place me near Orange County, so I loaded up the car with all of the cards I've been collecting to drop off after my conference. It took spending some time in a booth at a local franchise restaurant to count and sort non seasonal cards that I had already made sure had matching envelopes and were encased in plastic sleeves.

Since I was preparing on the run, I had to resign myself to donating these without the cute little sign on the front of the box and the customized card theme dividers I usually make. Insert sad face.  But I've held off for too long, since I live far away, and who knows when I'd be in the area again.

Here's the first two boxes containing 250 cards for the Orange County RMH facility.

This last undecorated small box contains 50 cards for the RMH Room located inside the infamous Children's Hospital of Orange County, otherwise referred to as CHOC.  I feel bad about not decorating the box for a more cheerful presentation. :(

CHOC pictured below is located just a few blocks away from the Orange RMH.  I snapped this photo while stopped at a red light.

And here we are at the Orange County RMH location.

I was really impressed with the living quarters.  Below is the living room.

And here is the lady at the Orange County RMH location with the card donations in front of their Tree of Giving to commemorate all their donors.  (I apologize for not remembering her name.)

She told me that they only had ONE other group, a Stampin' Up! group, that was donating cards about twice a year so this drop off was a VERY welcome one especially since they were created with such artful skill.  Previous donations were created by Girl Scouts, so....yes, lol, SCS stamper created cards are MUCH nicer!!  (These are my words, not hers.)

The reason Orange County RMH received 250 vs the CHOC Room receiving only 50 cards was due to my phone conversation with one of their employees the previous week.  Bre mentioned that there was much more traffic in the Ronald McDonald House than the Room at CHOC.  In addition, CHOC is a bustling hospital and I didn't want to deal with parking issues/costs, so I took up OC RMH's offer to leave all boxes with them since a CHOC representative would be by once a week to pick up supplies.

I apologize I didn't take the time to photograph individual groupings of the cards that were received this time from the following SCS donors that went into this box:

- Janelle (jmeyers) she sent a 2nd huge box!!
- Wendy C (my personal friend)
- Renee C (my personal friend)
- Quynh T (my personal friend)
- Denise 
- Sally M (animallover) 
- Trish (mouseprints)
- Staci (misermom)
- Karen (simpleescrapper)
- Linda Durham 
- Lorraine (rainykay)
- Lori (mybugandi45)
- Barb (barbarlynn)
- Pat (Pat in Oh) 
- Jane (janiekay) 


Thank you Ladies for your generosity that makes my job as Hostess so easy and enjoyable! 

******************************************************

RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE MISSION: To provide a community where children and their families embrace life and healing (from cancer) with a sense of hope, enthusiasm, courage and joy. 

Orange County Ronald McDonald House 

383 South Batavia Street

Orange, CA 92868

Ronald McDonald Family Room  at  Children's Hospital Orange County  (CHOC)

455 S Main Street 
6th Floor

Orange, CA 92868

2015 Donations to Other National RMH Locations = 118 Cards
2015 Cards Collected for Donation to Pasadena RMH = 175

2015 Cards Collected for Donation to Long Beach RMH = 160

2015 Cards Collected for Donation to Orange County RMH = 250

2015 Cards Collected for Donation to Children's Hospital Orange County (CHOC) = 50

I have chosen to adopt these various Southern California locations around the Greater Los Angeles areas to donate cards that I create and collect from friends.  So far, that's a whopping 635 cards collected and dropped off, not to mention the 118 cards I've sent to other RMH Hostesses Nationwide.  My next RMH location for donation will be the one closest to me in Hollywood, CA. 

SEEKING THESE CARD THEMES:  Anything other than religious, make them uplifting, thinking of you, children themes, etc.  Cards with no sentiments are perfectly acceptable too. Examples of themes: Welcome Baby Card / Wedding / Sympathy Card / Birthday / Thinking of You/ Thank you / Missing you. 

WANT TO DONATE:  Please leave a comment here with your email, and I'll reply to you with my home address.  

By forwarding to me or any of our other monthly hostesses throughout the US, you'll allow our group of ladies over at the SCS community to tally the number of cards donated and lives impacted.  Check out our Call for Cards here. 

 DETAILS:
1. Cards need to use good quality cardstock- HEAVY WEIGHT--- (so the card can stand alone) and include a minimum of two layers and one embellishment.  

2. IF you use colorful / dark cardstock—please line the inside of the card with either white or vanilla paper so the guests can write in them using black/blue pen.

3. If you place a sentiment inside—repeat the sentiment and place on copy paper so that it can be added inside the back of the sleeve-so the individual can see if there is a “saying” on the inside or it is “blank” 

4. If you would like to include envelopes and sleeves it would be greatly appreciated - sleeve IS NOT necessary.  What's a sleeve?  Click here for example. 

Nevertheless, I'll be preparing each card by inserting them and a matching envelopes inside individual clear A2 sized sealable envelopes in to keep the card clean and in pristine shape to allow the RMH recipients to handle and make their selection. 

                        ******************************************************
   

I'd love it if you'd like to donate some of your cards to this cause.   Please contact me for my mailing address! 

Thank you for visiting!! 

Cards for a Cause - Ronald McDonald House Donation

I've been swamped at my new job but it's been darn impossible to ignore that plethora of packages of card donations from other monthly hostesses and participants from the SplitCoastStampers community that had been arriving at my apartment almost daily around Thanksgiving.

So I repurposed a medium sized USPS flat rate priority box this time that one of the donors had used to mail me her large number of handmade cards. Since I was wrapping Christmas presents at the time, I decided to use Christmas wrapping paper to decorate the box holding the handmade cards. I again printed out my label that I made previously to adhere to the front of the box that says "Free Handmade Greeting Cards Donated by Rubber Stampers from www.splitcoaststampers.com." I definitely wanted to make the box pretty and ready to go for the RMH admin team. They do so much as it is.

Because I was short on non work/sleep time, I was only able to use white printing paper as dividers this time for each of the themed cards to make it easier for the residents to rifle through when making a selection for cards they want to use.

Sorry these photos are blurry as I had to make do with just my iphone camera at the time.

I had a work training meeting in the afternoon in the Long Beach area so I knew I had to get a box ready for this RMH location to spread the donated cards to this area of Los Angeles I'm ever hardly in.

Thankfully, everything worked out like a charm and I was able to pop into the Long Beach Ronald McDonald House to drop off this boxed set of 160 donated handmade cards with matching envelopes individually wrapped in plastic sleevings.

These ladies were thrilled to receive the cards and mentioned that they don't usually receive in a decorated box, so that warmed my heart. Again, they do so much already for the residents so anything I can do to lighten their load is my pleasure.  They also mentioned that they had just received a box of handmade card donations from a local cancer society so it's awesome to be among the local community supporting the good work that's being done here at RMH Long Beach.

I apologize I didn't take the time to photograph individual groupings of the cards that were received this time from the following SCS donors that went into this box:

- Martha K (mowmaws29)
- Karly B (Karly1020) 
- Janelle (jmeyers) 
- Regina (traingina) 
- Gael (mamadwawa) 
- Pam (dsp245)  
- Angie (paperpaws) 

Thank you Ladies for your generosity that makes my job as Hostess so easy and enjoyable! 

******************************************************

RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE MISSION: To provide a community where children and their families embrace life and healing (from cancer) with a sense of hope, enthusiasm, courage and joy. 

Long Beach Ronald McDonald House 

500 East 27th Street

Long Beach, CA 90806

2015 Donations to Other National RMH Locations = 118 Cards
2015 Cards Collected for Donation to Pasadena RMH = 175

2015 Cards Collected for Donation to Long Beach RMH = 160

I have chosen to adopt the location in Pasadena, Long Beach and Hollywood to donate cards that I create and collect from friends through January 2016.  

SEEKING THESE CARD THEMES:  Anything other than religious, make them uplifting, thinking of you, children themes, etc.  Cards with no sentiments are perfectly acceptable too. Examples of themes: Welcome Baby Card / Wedding / Sympathy Card / Birthday / Thinking of You/ Thank you / Missing you. 

WANT TO DONATE:  Please leave a comment here with your email, and I'll reply to you with my home address.  

By forwarding to me or any of our other monthly hostesses throughout the US, you'll allow our group of ladies over at the SCS community to tally the number of cards donated and lives impacted.  Check out our Call for Cards here. 

 DETAILS:
1. Cards need to use good quality cardstock- HEAVY WEIGHT--- (so the card can stand alone) and include a minimum of two layers and one embellishment.  

2. IF you use colorful / dark cardstock—please line the inside of the card with either white or vanilla paper so the guests can write in them using black/blue pen.

3. If you place a sentiment inside—repeat the sentiment and place on copy paper so that it can be added inside the back of the sleeve-so the individual can see if there is a “saying” on the inside or it is “blank” 

4. If you would like to include envelopes and sleeves it would be greatly appreciated - sleeve IS NOT necessary.  What's a sleeve?  Click here for example. 

Nevertheless, I'll be preparing each card by inserting them and a matching envelopes inside individual clear A2 sized sealable envelopes in to keep the card clean and in pristine shape to allow the RMH recipients to handle and make their selection. 

                        ******************************************************
   

I'd love it if you'd like to donate some of your cards to this cause.   Please contact me for my mailing address! 

Thank you for visiting!! 

Cards for a Cause - Ronald McDonald House Donation

This past Labor Day holiday weekend, I was quite the busy bee!  

Additional packages containing card donations for my sponsored local Ronald McDonald House location in Pasadena are coming in from other monthly hostesses and participants from the SplitCoastStampers community, so it was high time I made a delivery.  

I repurposed a small brown box by decorating it with gift wrap paper I found in the check out aisles at Michaels and I printed out a quickie label to adhere to the front that says "Free Handmade Greeting Cards Donated by Rubber Stampers from www.splitcoaststampers.com."  I wanted to make the box pretty and ready to go for the admin team. 

I also cut up extra colored manilla file folders I had to make dividers for each of the themed cards to make it easier to rifle through.  I was short on time so made these super quick and without fuss, hence my handwriting on each of the tabs.  Ideally, I would have cut out each of the dividers using heavy weight patterned paper and found a way using punches and/or dies to hand notch each of the tabs, but those supplies are in storage, so I made do with what I had.  

I got to meet the Operations Director / House Manager of the Pasadena location, Vicky Garcia, yesterday early evening and got to hand off the box directly to her.  She was so nice to give me a facility tour and really educated me on RMH's mission, how they operate and all the good deeds they do for families in need.  

Vicky informed me that this Pasadena location caters to many international and out of state families who come to this area due to the many hospitals that Pasadena RMH partners with.  Therefore, Pasadena RMH will service needy families who suffer from other debilitating illnesses other than cancer.  Most of the families that stay here are of Hispanic origin and speak Spanish.  Vicky mentioned that many of them celebrate hispanic cultural holidays such as All Soul's Day and would appreciate those themed cards or any in Spanish language.  

While touring, I saw a few families in the downstairs common areas.  It was heart breaking to see a few small children in crutches and various bandages for what appeared to be severe limb amputations. 

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have met Vicky and for her time she gave me. I'm also very grateful to the SplitCoastStampers community for introducing and inspiring me to contribute to such a worthy cause.  

It was a bit deja vu-ish because this Pasadena facility is located literally right across the street from the Hospital by dad was in for his long term hospice care when he had suffered the first of his debilitating strokes that led to the revelation that he was suffering from Parkinson's Disease and colon cancer from which he would eventually succumb to.  I haven't been back or near this street where the hospital is located since that time.  I was definitely flood with a lot of emotions.  

On to less heavy topic of conversation........this box got really heavy and full I must say.  There are 175 cards total in here. 

I have to thank my friend Lynn M again for her contribution of 162 cards.  She sent me as much as she could inside a large flat rate priority box.  They already had a matching envelope and were encased in clear plastic sleeves. I merely added a slip in each one to acknowledge her as the generous and talented artist for the recipient.  Here's a sampling of her cards that I photographed. 

Here are cards donated to by a fellow monthly hostess Carol who collected a total of 536 during her designated month of May for her local Ronald McDonald House location in Minnesota!  Thank you Carol!





These next 20 cards were donated by Lee Mae of Washington state. Gosh her cards are super cute and perfect for kids!  Thank you Lee Mae!!

My favorite is the single layer card in the bottom left with the little hedgehogs!! Oh, and the little penguin with a party banner in his wings is super adorable too!! Her style is so bright, cheerful and whimsical which is so different than mine.

It's such a treat to open each parcel and marvel at each and every carefully handcrafted greeting card that's been donated.  Lynn's, Carol's and Lee Mae's styles are all so different from each other and from my own that it's such an eye opening experience, not to mention delight, in handling their cards in person.

And finally, because I have bags of SU Card Fronts from my previous Demo Only Swaps that I hosted coming out of my ears, I finally converted what I hope is the last remaining bag into full cards and prepared them to contribute to the other monthly hostesses located around the U.S.   Here's a pile of what I could fit into a picture.

So, with this pile, I've mailed off:

- 10 cards to August Hostess for the San Diego, CA RMH location. 

- 10 cards to the September Hostess for the Baltimore, MD RMH location. 

- 10 cards to the October Hostess for the Hershey, PA RMH location.

- 20 cards to the November and December Hostess for the Madison and Marshfield, WI RMH locations. 

- 10 cards to the February Hostess for the Minnesota RMH location.  

Whew! September 9th was a good productive day! I'm done with all of my contributions for the remainder of the year in this round to the other hostesses.  

                        ******************************************************

RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE MISSION: To provide a community where children and their families embrace life and healing (from cancer) with a sense of hope, enthusiasm, courage and joy. 

Pasadena Ronald McDonald House 

763 South Pasadena Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105

2015 Donations = 118 Cards
2015 Cards Collected for Donation = 217
* 20 from Marina F. *
* 162 from Lynn M. *
* 15 from Carol *
* 20 from Lee Mae *

I have chosen to adopt the location in Pasadena to donate cards that I create and collect from friends throughout the rest of this 2015.  

SEEKING THESE CARD THEMES:  Anything other than religious, make them uplifting, thinking of you, children themes, etc.  Cards with no sentiments are perfectly acceptable too. Examples of themes: Welcome Baby Card / Wedding / Sympathy Card / Birthday / Thinking of You/ Thank you / Missing you. 

WANT TO DONATE:  Please leave a comment here with your email, and I'll reply to you with my home address.  

By forwarding to me or any of our other monthly hostesses throughout the US, you'll allow our group of ladies over at the SCS community to tally the number of cards donated and lives impacted.  Check out our Call for Cards here. 

 DETAILS:
1. Cards need to use good quality cardstock- HEAVY WEIGHT--- (so the card can stand alone) and include a minimum of two layers and one embellishment.  

2. IF you use colorful / dark cardstock—please line the inside of the card with either white or vanilla paper so the guests can write in them using black/blue pen.

3. If you place a sentiment inside—repeat the sentiment and place on copy paper so that it can be added inside the back of the sleeve-so the individual can see if there is a “saying” on the inside or it is “blank” 

4. If you would like to include envelopes and sleeves it would be greatly appreciated - sleeve IS NOT necessary.  What's a sleeve?  Click here for example. 

Nevertheless, I'll be preparing each card by inserting them and a matching envelopes inside individual clear A2 sized sealable envelopes in to keep the card clean and in pristine shape to allow the RMH recipients to handle and make their selection. 

                        ******************************************************

So far, I've contributed 118 cards personally to all the hostesses nationwide.

Everything I personally make going forward will be going in my collection box for my designated month of January 2016 to the Pasadena Ronald McDonald House location.     

I'd love it if you'd like to donate some of your cards to this cause.   Please contact me for my mailing address! 

Thank you for visiting!! 

And HUGE THANK YOU's to Lynn, Carol and Lee Mae again!