From Our Hearts

From one of our faithful chaplains ...

One of the most satisfying joys about working with From Our Hearts, it the INSTANT feedback we get. A lot of organizations wait years to see if they have had an impact with their efforts.

Not us.

Not normally that is. We get cards, letters and emails from our Chaplains on a regular basis, always letting us know exactly how great of an impact we have had on our Troops with our card store boxes that we send over monthly.

Which brings me to Chaplain Payne, author of one of our regular feedback notes we get here at From Our Hearts. He has written us many times, much to our delight. He is in Iraq and we have been hearing about how things there are quite busy with the pull back going on. Apparently, it has affected our Chaplains as well. This note was written back in April and we didn't receive it till July.

Doesn't matter tho, the message is timeless . . .

 

It says:

Martha,

I wish that you could see the joy that my Marines and Sailors have when we give them your cards.  Yesterday, two female guards went crazy as they went through a box to pick out a few cards (we have it on very good authority that they only take 5 at a time out of respect for their fellow servicemen and women...they SHARE!) 
Going on, he says:
Personally, I handed out Mother's Day cards to individuals in all of our sections.  You are a blessing to us.  Also many moms will get cards.  Moms who do not get cards.  They will also be blessed by you.
GOD Bless!

Chaplain Payne ... Al Asad (that is where he is in Iraq)

Grab your Kleenex . . .  we are making a difference, one quality handcrafted greeting card at a time. It says so right there.

To all of our card makers, we wish you could see the joy your work brings to these members of our service units. Please know that every single card is appreciated. So, thank you very much for sharing them with us every month. And keep them coming, these guys are expecting more !

Robbie Cox, a new contributor...wow, clear envelopes!

More goodies in the mail have arrived and this one is from Robbie C.

It is just like Christmas here all year round. We know it's a present, but have no idea what kind of present.

Don't even think of shaking it, it's way too heavy to lift, let alone try to shake !

Inside we found beautiful cards with envelopes, YEAH ! and a bonus gift, EXTRA CLEAR ENVELOPES ! ! ! ! 

 

The clear envelopes are the crucial element to making our project work. These cards will go through many hands after they arrive in either Afghanistan or Iraq, so that clear envelope keeps every card pristine until it is chosen by one of our Troops to be sent to their family member.

So Robbie C, thank you for both gifts. It is being put to good use already !

We got pictures from July 18, finally ! !

We are finally getting back to normal here, ( whatever that is ! ), after our big events and thought we would start sharing some pictures. Let's start in Jefferson City MO.

This is the beautiful community room at the HyVee grocery store where the event was held. This room is wonderfully lit as it is three sides  of huge windows, so the natural sunlight is incredible. Perfect for card making. Thank you HyVee for such a beautiful setting to hold our event.

 

It takes a lot of preparation to get over a thousand cards ready. Here is a new volunteer, Stampin' Up!® Demonstrator Debbie L and board member Susan Troxel, setting up one of the many card making stations that will get a lot of use during our event.

 

It didn't take long for the room to fill up. Here's Debbie L and next to her is one of our regular library volunteer card makers, Ralph, hard at work. Good to see you again Ralph.

 

The videographer is from KMOU TV helping us tell our story. Seated in front of her is one of our regular volunteers Gerry K. Gerry K shows up every where we have an event and I hear he is getting really good at stamping ! Good job Gerry, nice to see you again.

Everyone worked really hard to make cards to be sent over to our service men and women, for them to send back home to their families. Our thanks to everyone who showed up and helped out. We really appreciated it.

 

Cool Gifts from Deanna W

We got this package today with more beautiful cards from Deanna W. one of our faithful card making contributors. We always love looking at her work but today she surprised us.
 

Deanna knew the we were gonna to send a lot of boxes with our Holiday Cards making events being so successful. Packing supplies are always in demand and so expensive. So Deanna sent us a gift card to Staples as well and we also received a Staples gift card from Staples too. This means so much to us. 

Thank you Deanna and Staples. Every single gift means more boxes going over and that is a very good thing ! 

. . . if it comes in here, it's gotta' go out of here . . .

Every week we show you all of the thousands of cards that come to us to be sent over to our Troops. We truly love what we get to do, getting the cards put in their new box home, filling out the customs form and hauling them over to the Post Office, so that our men and women serving our country, protecting our freedom, have an opportunity to connect with their loved ones. But they take up a lot of room at times, so we really need to move them very quickly, in the door and then out the door.

Which brings us to board member Tom Shea. He is always seen at our events, stamping and assembling cards that we making, supporting every event we have held. But one of his other contributions to our organization is that of special delivery person to the Post Office. After all, we wouldn't trust your cards to just anyone ! ! !

 

He does such a great job getting all of those babies on their way to Afghanistan and Iraq, about 3,000 of them this week alone. This is Tom, 10 boxes and the customs form headed to the Post Office.

Thank you Tom, for always helping us, no matter what the tasks or chores. You are a true gentleman and we are indebted to you for your valued service, always with a smile and willing attitude.

Carolyn's WOW cards have arrived

Carolyn White has sent a box of cards to us

This time it was full cards, WOW cards . . .

Lots of embellishments, multiple layers, just adorable.

 

They were packed just like we request, very tightly in the box so that they make it safe and sound. Nice job Carolyn, thank you, again !

We got boxes . . .

What with all the excitement and preparations for our card making events, something else really exciting happened in Kansas.

Regina announced she found these on her doorstep . . .

 

 

Then she opened them . . . and wow  . . .

 

 

Apparently Adrian M from MD has been very busy and we are thrilled to have gotten such treasures. Regina was expecting her sisters on Saturday and these lovelies will be ready to go in no time at all.

Thank you Adrian, it was a welcome arrival for sure !

Just who comes out to our events ?

While most of us here at From Our Hearts are thoroughly exhausted from putting on all the events this past weekend, there were a couple of pictures we need to get out from an event that took place over a week ago.

The regular card making event for the Jefferson City MO area was held at the library and we were blessed with a whole new group of folks who came out to help us.

 Much to our delight, a husband and wife team came out to help:

Doris and Ralph helped assemble the Halloween cards we needed to get done ! Neither of them had ever made a card and their enthusiasm was catching - they are avid troops supporters!

Down the assembly line are Janice (the ribbon queen), Spike and Christa (stamping & punching experts), all working on different parts of the cards.  Here is the finished product:
 
All of these great cards were finished, in just 2 1/2 hours - what a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Thank you to all who came out to support our Troops.

Isn't it time for you to come out and stamp with us ?

From the kindness of others . . .

As a 501c3 not-for-profit effort, you kinda' rely on a whole lot of people to help you out with absolutely everything in your operation. With our economic state right now, it never fails to surprise us how generous people are toward our 'mission'.

Take for example what happened at the Missouri River Regional Library.  Some unknown individual has paid the newly imposed fee passed by the library board that went into effect July 1. We have no idea who but it did not go unnoticed at all. It means that we can continue holding our monthly card making events and spend our precious few dollars on mailing more boxes each month. We do not have a name but we have knowledge of a wonderful heart in our presence. We thank you for your generosity.

And there are those we do know about that help us out. For the Joliet IL event on July 18th, we have the privilege of holding our event in the Illinois National Guard Armory Building. Our contact there is Sargent First Class Michael Spade, who with his staff have been so incredibly accommodating to allow our group to come in and stamp.

Here's SFC Spade helping set our area, with precision I might add . . .

 

I don't know if this picture is good enough, but take a closer look at those wood floors. They are polished with in an inch of their lives and are so incredibly clean, I think you could eat off of them ! Not bad for floors that are over 50 years old and used to have vehicles parked on them. This building is absolutely pristine.

That is partially the job of this gentleman, Paul, the maintenance engineer for this building. He has bent over backwards to set this building just like we wanted it. All of the members of this unit are very proud of this facility, as rightly they should.

 

All their hard work paid off  . . .

 

Just waiting for the stampers to show up. Whether known or not known, we honor those who give their time, talent and energy to help us out every single day. Thank you from our hearts.

. . . in the eyes of the beholder . .

Many times, over and over, we hear the words 'art', 'artwork', creations' and so on. It comes up frequently because, in some related way, we are artist of paper and ink. Strictly speaking about the adults who contribute their cards to our cause.

So when Ruth C held her Holiday card making event last week, she had the thrill of sharing our 'art' with a whole new generation, those little folk under age 6.

We are proud to premiere the artistic stylings of Drake, age 3,

 

If this were the Louvre in Paris, one would be standing there trying to understanding the hidden meaning of the reindeer being upside down, but in Norman OK, Drake thought this reindeer just looked cool . . .  and so do we !

Just think what reaction a military parent of a small child, who is 7,000 miles away in Afghanistan, will be. Priceless . . .

The majority of all the beautiful cards  that were made our OK event will be packaged soon,

 

What a great batch ! Thanks to all who showed up and helped out, can't wait to get them here in the office.