Send A Smile 4 Kids (Canada) collects and distributes handmade greeting cards to nurses, staff and families to give to hospitalized children on their birthdays and other special dates. Our focus will be on providing happy, upbeat birthday cards and "glad you're going home" cards but we will also make and provide cards for holidays throughout the year.



Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Sharing pictures of some of the cards donated recently

Sharing some of the amazing cards that have been donated for the kids at BC Childrens Hospital and Stollery Childrens Hospital. Thank you to all the generous crafters for donating cards.

Cards for older kids donated by Diane H
Diane often incorporates her own photographs (like this gorgeous flower from her garden) into the cards.

100 cards from the BC team of Jan R and her friend Pat, Karen D, Margaret D, Suzanne T and her grand-daughter Brenna and Marj S.

Abby H. made 12 cute, sweet Easter cards. They all so darn cute - the kids will love them.


An Easter card and a Father's Day card from Tara M.

These 12 cards came from Julienne G. in Manning, Alberta.
Theresa sent this batch of cards in - love the chicks!
Jenny R created these 3-D cards
Lynnette went to a "Stamp a stack" session at Donna's place yesterday afternoon. Donna sells Stampin' Up in Camrose. We were making cards for different ages of children and also some thank you. When Amanda J. was done making her cards she donated these cards to SAS4KIDS. Thanks so very much for your support! Lynnette made 12 cards there herself for the kids.

Stollery kids love their cards!

Wanted to take a few minutes to share this email from Lynnette, our Alberta coordinator.

Yesterday we delivered 167 easter cards to the Stollery. I received a good report from Diane and she was willing to visit with us for awhile.  She says that they are fitting the cards into their programs with great success. Also that kids and parents are thankful for the cards they have gotten.  Parents are asking for thank you cards to give to the hospital staff and they are happy with the cards that  are given to them to use.   She also said that some of the children just want to hug the card and to not give it up or write in it so this is okay with staff.  I and my husband, Horst my driver were thrilled to hear this and this makes it all so worthwhile. She also said that mother's day and father's day are huge at the hospital.  If it were any way possible they could use 200 for each of these holidays. 
Smiles, Lynnette
 
We hear this type of thing all the time - the kids just love to give and receive your handmade cards! Whether you donate a single card or huge batch, please know that you are part of helping a child's hospital stay just a little brighter. Thank you!!!

Monday, March 5, 2012

Cards for all seasons & some amazing generosity

This is going to be a bit of a long post but there are pictures of creative & beautiful cards so it's well worth reading!

I've been absolutely overwhelmed by the amazing generosity of SAS4K supporters (of course, when am I not overwhelmed? You guys ROCK!). The cards are just flooding in, to the point where I've set up storage containers for extras. My new house has an absolutely huge walk-in closet and I'm using part of that space for 2 rolling caddies to hold all of your cards until they are sent to BC Childrens Hospital. This is great news because it means that you can send in your seasonal cards any time of the year. I have drawers set up for Christmas, Valentines Day, Halloween, birthdays by age range, etc. The Hospital doesn't have alot of storage space so I send the cards in batches as they are needed.

Gay (Vancouver, BC)
I'm really glad that I got those storage drawers set up because I picked up a batch of cards from Gay (Vancouver, BC) recently and she really went all out! Gay is in the process of clearing out her crafting space so she packed up most of the cards she had previously made and donated them to SAS4K. In total there were over 400 cards! And her friend Heidi dropped off another 100 cards! There are Christmas cards, Valentine's Day cards, lots of blank cards and even some adorable cards for infants.
Loll (Surrey, BC)
And on the subject of Christmas cards, check out this gorgeous design that I received this past week from Loll. Loll sent me a bundle of cards - this is definitely my favourite.

I'm really thrilled to be getting some special requests from the Hospital staff too. Most recently they are asking for more cards for teenagers (especially teenage boys). Don't groan ... I know that boys are tough to make cards for, but imagine the fun you'll have meeting the challenge!

Diane H (St. Marys, Ontario)
I shipped out a big box of cards last weeks with some absolutely wonderful Easter cards. I can't show you all of them (or this post would go on forever) but I can't resist sharing one of my favourites. I think it's so cool that this card is made using a photograph of a rabbit from Diane's very own garden. In addition to Diane's photo cards, there were also cards made with peel-off outline stickers, stamped images, paper piecing and digital stamps. Some had handmade embellishments, many were hand-coloured, and every card is unique and special. The kids are going to love them!
Father's Day cards from Diane H.
Right now I'm collecting cards for Father's & Mother's Day. There are a few in the drawers already but I'll need at least another 20-40 for each day. These cards are a bit unique in that the cards aren't being given to the kids but instead are given by the kids. The hospitals have great craft rooms set up for the kids, but not all kids are able to make their own cards (and hard as it is to believe, not all kids want to) so we provide an assortment of handmade cards that the kids can pick from. So when you make that card for your own Mother and/or Father how about making an extra one for SAS4K?

Thank you to each and every one of you! Whether you donate one card or 400, each card is appreciated, admired and truly helps bring smiles to the faces of kids who are inpatient at BC Childrens Hospital and Edmonton's Stollery Hospital. Keep up the great work!

Heidi (Vancouver, BC)
Diane G. (Deatsville, AL)

Shirley (North Vancouver, BC)