Happy Holidays From Send a Smile 4 Kids!

We have not posted on this side for a while because there haven't been any changes to report. But we are very active on our challenge side, and have been regularly posting current needs and activity in the pages above.

We are just about done collecting cards for the winter holidays (see current needs) and after the first Saturday of December, the design team will have the rest of the month off to have more time to celebrate with family and friends. Soon we will be looking for winter cards and then spring holiday cards. Other general category cards are also needed by some of the volunteers, so keep checking the Current Needs page here.

Two of our volunteers are stepping away due to changes in their lives. We thank Cyndi Amaya and Cathy Cusson for their work on behalf of our hospitalized kids. If you have been mailing cards to these two volunteers, please check our Contact page and pick another volunteer and children's hospital to support.

Thank you for all the cards you have sent for our kids in 2018! Happy Holidays to you and yours and we wish you a happy and healthy New Year!

Stamping Smiles 4 Our Kids, Karen

Announcing Two More Volunteers and Hospitals SAS4Kids is Now Serving!

We are thrilled to announce that Send a Smile 4 Kids continues to grow and we are now serving two more children's hospitals and announcing two new volunteers. On the side of the blog you will now see Jen Reece's and Dena Hughes' beautiful faces and the hospitals they will be serving. I am happy to introduce you to both of them!

Dena Hughes lives in Tacoma Washington and shared this intro bio with us: 

I am a retired high school social studies teacher, and still substitute a bit. I have three grown sons: one teaches/lives in Japan, two others close by. There are four delightful grandchildren, from 6 months to 12 years old, to keep me smiling.  I am a member of P.E.O. and two book clubs. A dear friend introduced me to stamping 21 years ago, and I've been at it ever since! The vegetable garden, reading, cooking, camping, and traveling the world are my other passions. My blog can be found at www.denajhughes.blogspot.com 

She will be bringing the cards you send to her to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma, WA and her address is:

SAS4Kids C/O Dena Hughes

3621 N Ferdinand St

Tacoma, WA 98407-4113

Dena is ready to receive your cards now and will need all kinds of cards appropriate for children (watch the side of the blog for updates from all volunteers on current needs.)

We are also welcoming Jen Reece as a new volunteer serving Connecticut Children's Hospital in Hartford, CT, but please hold off sending cards to Jen until after August 13th. Here is the intro bio Jen shared with us:

Graphic designer by day, crafter by night! I have been doing arts and crafts as long as I can remember, starting with mud sculptures(!) and progressing to embroidery, cross stitch and crewel work; handicrafts and leather; scrapbooking, origami and other paper crafts; pottery/porcelain throwing; and glass blowing! I am hoping to build a stained glass studio in my basement next year. I want to learn to knit as well as crochet--someday. In my spare time, I volunteer at the local animal shelter walking dogs and socializing cats. I am married to my college sweetie and “mom” to a 3-year old Newfoundland named Kira. I have been volunteering with SAS4K for a few years and am really looking forward to spreading smiles and joy to “my own” hospital in CT.

Jen's address after August 13th is:

SAS4Kids C/O Jen Reece

1561 County Street

Attleboro, MA  02703

We are happy to say we can now put smiles on more children's faces with your continued support and handmade cards!

Stamping smiles 4 Kids, Karen 

SAS4Kids is Featured Again, and Announcing a Huge Blog Hop on July 21st

Send a Smile 4 Kids was featured in an article in the July 2nd issue of Women's World, a nationally published magazine available in most grocery stores. On page 54, there was a sweet article about a little girl who was born with health issues and how this miracle baby survived and thrived. At the bottom of the article, there was a portion that stated her mother read cards to her to help her recover and listed three organizations where the readers could send their handmade cards to make a difference. SAS4Kids was #1 and the note listed our website asking for "fun, colorful, homemade" cards for our kids!

In other news, SAS4Kids is celebrating a milestone on July 21st on our challenge side. It is our 175th challenge starting that date and we are celebrating with a huge blog hop with the theme of Christmas in July 4 Kids. It is never too early to start making holiday and Christmas cards for our kids so that every child inpatient in the many children's hospitals we serve not only receives a Christmas or holiday card, but can also pick out some for special medical staff and loved ones they are missing over the holidays.

We have 17 stops on our blog hop and over 30 prizes you could win just by commenting on one or more of the stops. Too busy to hop and comment? No problem. Comment on one blog and you have one chance to win. Comment on all and you have 17 chances and if you enter the challenge with a Christmas or holiday card appropriate for a child and you will have a chance at winning 8 prizes which will be drawn randomly for 8 winners! So be sure to stop over there between July 21st and August 3rd and see how you can win some great prizes from our wonderful sponsors!

Send A Smile 4 Kids Continues to Grow!

SAS4Kids continues to grow and help put smiles on more kids’ faces! We are happy to announce two more volunteers and two more children’s hospitals we are now serving! Our other volunteers have been receiving more cards than their hospitals could handle, so we are thrilled to add two more addresses and volunteers. Their smiling faces have now been added to the side of our blog along with the name of the two new hospitals. Both of our newest volunteers have only one hospital at this time, so we are asking your help again. If you know any children’s hospitals fairly close to East Ridge, TN or Ottumwa, IA who might want to receive your handmade cards for their kids, let us know. (See Contact Us page for email addresses where you could share that information.) You do not need to volunteer if for any reason you are unable to, but it would help us to know of additional children’s hospitals close to these or any of our volunteers that we could maybe add to our list. However, if you would like to become a SAS4Kids volunteer who accepts and distributes cards to a children’s hospital or two near you, we are still open to adding more volunteers in different states across the USA.

Our first new volunteer is Cathy Cusson and she is collecting your cards for kids at Niswonger Children’s Hospital in Johnson City, TN. Here is what Cathy shared about herself:

My name is Cathy Cusson. I have several passions in my life and quite a few of them center around art.  I love card making and scrapbooking.  I retired from teaching May 2017.  I had been in the elementary classroom for 40 years!  While in the classroom I made cards for my kids and also made one for each of the staff's birthdays.  So when I discovered SAS4Kids, it was a perfect fit.  I could make cards and also help others to connect their lovely cards with children. On a personal note, I am single with no children of my own.  If you ask me about children, I do say to the shock of many I have several hundred!  I keep in touch with most of "my" kids.  I love animals and my only "baby" right now is a large black lab mix.  He is spoiled rotten and definitely knows he is the baby!

Cathy’s address is:

Cathy Cusson

716 Pyron Lane

East Ridge TN 37412

Our second new volunteer is Beverly Bethune and she is ready to receive your handmade cards for kids at Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines IA. Here is what Beverly shared about herself:

I've been a community college instructor for over 20 years and still love it. In my spare time I prefer being around home so I spend time with my family, do paper crafting, crochet, and cross-stitch. I also love music and play the piano at a small church. When the weather is good I like to work in my yard and I particularly like hostas. That may sound like a boring life to a lot of people, but it keeps me happy.  I am definitely a "kid person" and look forward to working with SAS4kids to provide cards to the children's hospitals in Iowa.

And this is her address to send your handmade kids’s cards to:

Beverly Bethune

232 W. Woodland Ave.

Ottumwa, IA  52501

Thanks for helping us share joy and cards in the many children’s hospitals we now serve!

Karen SAS4Kids

Announcing Another Volunteer and Two More Hospitals SAS4Kids is Serving!

We are very happy to announce that SAS4Kids continues to grow and we have a new volunteer and two more hospitals full of kids your cards can bring joy to! Angie Seyer lives in South Dakota and she is ready to receive your handmade cards for kids in these hospitals:

Avera McKennan Hospital - Pediatrics

Sioux Falls, SD

Avera St. Luke's Hospital

Aberdeen, SD

*Edited to add: Angie has already added another location to those she will serve: Ronald McDonald House in Sioux Falls, SD!**

I asked Angie to share a little about herself and she said this:

My Mom and I have been making cards for about 10 years.  I have sent cards to SAS4Kids and now look forward to sending cards to hospitals in my home state!  The smiles the cards will bring is why we do it.  Thank you for this opportunity. 

Angie's address is:

SAS4Kids C/O Angie Seyer 

1608 Norwood Drive

Aberdeen, SD 57401

Angie will need any day cards, thank yous, birthday, smile/cheer and baby cards.

We are still looking for more volunteers and hospitals as all our volunteers have been receiving more cards than the hospitals can use. If you think you might like to volunteer and know of a children's hospital or two close to you, please contact us via our Facebook page or email Karen at khasheck at gmail.com or Janet Kay Bailey (who is the leader of the volunteers) at bspruce2000 at yahoo dot com.  
        

Thanks for helping us bring smiles to kids' faces!

Karen SAS4Kids

Can You Help Send a Smile 4 KIds?

We have been blessed with so many of you sending in your awesome cards for our kids. But most of our volunteers are actually receiving more cards than their hospitals can use. Each of our volunteers do put specific requests and needs on the side of this blog, so please read those before sending in your cards.

Send a Smile 4 Kids needs more volunteers in different areas of the United States who would be willing to accept cards from our donors at their addresses (which we do have to share here on our website), sort them, label the back and bring or send them to one or more children's hospitals in your area who have agreed to accept them. You could deliver or send them as often as you like, but for sure before every major holiday and in between as needed.

Do you like to help make kids smile? Would you be willing to contact children's hospitals in your area and see if they would like to receive handmade cards for their kids who are inpatient on holidays and any other day of the year? You can refer them to all the pages on the top of this blog for all the information they would need.

We would love to help more kids and serve more hospitals and need your help so we can continue to grow. Please contact Karen using the email address in the Contact Us page if you are interested in knowing more or would like to volunteer.

Thanks for all you do for Send a Smile 4 Kids!

Karen

Scrapbook.com Article on the Benefits of Handmade Cards and List of Where You Can Send Yours

"Like all hobbyists, card makers love what we do. Card making is fun and a great outlet for creative expression. Many would even call it therapeutic, as the benefits of art therapy are well known. But did you know that when we make cards we are actually making the world a better place, one card at a time, for other people, too?"

That quote is from an article on the Scrapbook.com website about the benefits of handmade cards vs. store bought cards and Send a Smile 4 Kids is one of the suggested charitable organizations listed in the article to send your extra cards to. 

Here is a link to the article:    https://www.scrapbook.com/articles/cards-for-charity.
I highly recommend you read the article and check out the wonderful list of various places we can share our handmade cards with to help cheer kids, soldiers, military wives and others.

Most of our volunteers are posting on the side of this home page their current needs (but you can also send your cards to those who have not posted there.)  Next we would like spring and Easter cards as well as Mother's Day and Father's Day cards for the kids to give to their loved ones on those days. 

Sending smiles 4 our kids, Karen 

Shipper News for Nationwide Children's

Happy New Year from all of us at Send A Smile 4 Kids! Here's hoping all of you have enjoyed a  joyous holiday season.

Sybrina here with news about a shipper change for one of our hospitals. Starting today, Anne Slattery is taking over shipping duties for Nationwide Children's. A brief scan of the Gratitude and Activity page shows that many of you already know Anne, who ships SAS4Kids cards to three other hospitals. I know she will do a fabulous job for the kids at Nationwide Children's. Thank you so much, Anne! Your kindness and generosity mean so much to me.

Anne has let me know she is in need of Valentines but has plenty of other cards at this time. If you are a regular sender to my address, please send any other cards to any of the other volunteers. (Check the side of the home page for current needs.)

 I can't tell you how much I will miss the joy of opening all your amazing packages. Nor can I tell you how many design ideas you've inspired. (If hubby were here, he'd tell you about all those stamp sets I've just had to buy after seeing your adorable cards! LOL) The former math teacher in me thought it would be interesting to crunch a few numbers. In 2+ years, I've received over 6000 cards from 60+ different cardmakers. Some of you sent a few packages and/or packages with a few cards. Some of you sent packages on a regular basis and/or packages regularly crammed full of cards. All cards were made with love, and all packages were lovingly received. Along the way, many of you have become friends. Thank you all for the kindnesses you've shown to me these past few years. More importantly, thank you soooooo much for the big smiles you've brought to little faces at Nationwide Children's.

I'm happy to say that I'm continuing in three SAS4Kids roles: 1) DT member, 2) winners' post author, and 3) cardmaker. So, here's to seeing you on the SAS4Kids Challenge page!  :)