From Our Hearts

Matt . . . A Volunteer in a Different Way

Meet Matt . . . he met From Our Hearts about 30 miles north of our home base on his way through Missouri to Kansas.

Why?  To exchange boxes.

He took 4 large boxes of card fronts we have been collecting from contributors (those who included them with their cards) and gave us 4 boxes of 1200 cards that our volunteers in Topeka, KS have been hard at work making from all those card fronts that have been donated to From Our Hearts.

Yes, Matt is yet one more volunteer in our effort - and has saved us at least $100 in postage for those 8 boxes that we exchanged last week!

Matt graciously offered to be the pivot point for the exchange - and is helping us to stretch our precious donated dollars so that they may be used to mail the boxes to Iraq and Afghanistan instead.

Thank you, Matt!  We now have 1,200 cards that were once card fronts and many thousands of card fronts are now in the hands of our volunteers in Kansas who are happy to have a new supply to work with.

Do you have card fronts that you have stashed away, not being used anymore?  If so, you may recycle them by sending them to From Our Hearts.

Contact us at m.shea@fromourhearts.info for the address to mail them as it is a different location than where the cards are mailed.  Some of your donated dollars go toward the purchase of cardstock to turn the cardfronts into cards.  And your donations are tax exempt as we are a not for profit organization.  Everything we do is donated; all of our time, supplies, postage, everything . . . is supported by contributors nationwide.

We thank you in advance for your contributions.  Without your support, monthly shipments to our 10 chaplains would not be possible.

LeAnn Ayers Donates 203 Cards to From Our Hearts

 

When LeAnn A from Ft. Worth, TX sent us a note that cards were on their way, little did we know that she meant 203 cards with envelopes!

 

And if we are not mistaken, she sent these to us, ready for the boxes, in clear envelopes as well.

 
Just take a look at her note to us:  all counted and accounted for by type.

It was easy for us to take the cards out of the box, double check her count and place them into the boxes...

LeAnn, your contribution just about fills up one entire box, although they will be split between the 10 chaplains we are now supporting.

FOH appreciates your support as we know that your cards will be very well received.

And we appreciate you taking the extra time to separate them and to include your note to us with your count!

From Our Hearts Library Event Yields 138 cards

 

Every month, From Our Hearts in Jefferson City sponsors a free monthly event at our local library.  This event is for the public to come out and stamp for our troops.  This month, the theme was Valentines and "miss you".  The card above was made by MEN!!!

Yes, 50 of these pink and red cards, even dazzled up with dazzling diamonds, were handcrafted by some very crafty men with NO HELP from the ladies present.  We think they did a pretty good job, don't you think?

 

The ladies worked on this Valentine - red and black - and cranked out 50 of them.

 

And when finished, they made 38 of these easy, "I miss you" cards.

From Our Hearts creates cards at these events that are in short supply.  This month, the box of "miss you" cards is just about empty.  And of course, Valentines will be shipped over next month.

Our many thanks to our faithful stampers Gerry, Dave, Susan, and Tom for their continued support every month!

April S from Chino Hills, CA gives from the Heart

 

One of those 4 boxes received that we posted Tuesday was from Chino Hills, CA - and do you see the heart and Card for the Troops on the front of the box?  We LOVE IT!  This box is compliments of April S.

 

Inside, not only were there bundles of cards, but a box of pens for our troops,too.  What a great idea.  FOH has been receiving these of late and we think it is a wonderful idea, to include pens and mechanical pencils for our servicemen and women to write in these beautiful cards.

 

April wrote us a nice note, thanking FOH for what we are doing for our military personnel.  And, she included her own personalized slip with each card.  We encourage this as well.  This tells them were the cards originate.  We only ask that FOH information remain in tact so that they may contact us.  She followed our instructions. . . and each card had its own slip with her information and From Our Hearts, too.

Take a look at the variety of cards she sent - all bundled by type.  This make it easy for us when we sort them and place them in their "holding" boxes until we get the next shipment ready.  We place a variety in each box so that there is a good selection for the servicemen and women to choose from.  They love our boxes of cards!

Thank you, April! 

Happy Thanksgiving from From Our Hearts

On this day of thanks, From Our Hearts wishes to give our heartfelt thanks to all miltary personnel who are serving our country and to their families.

And we also wish to thank all who are supporting our cause to bring the thousands of handcrafted cards into the hands of our servicemen and women serving our country in Iraq and Afghanistan.

From Our Hearts received a very touching letter from a grandmother from Tennessee.  She wrote thanking us for sending the boxes of cards to the soldiers and said her grandson had sent her the "most lovely Thanksgiving card."  She thanked us for providing this service to them.

This letter of thanks is for all of you who are helping us to send over these boxes in so many different ways:

* sending us cards

* sending us card fronts

* donating your time and talent

* sending us cash contributions

* sending us supplies

We are impacting many thousands of lives with each shipment of cards mailed each month.

From Our Hearts is truly thankful for all the support we have been given by everyone.

And most of all, we are thankful for our military; for all the sacrifices they make, daily, to protect our freedom.  And for their familes, who support them and who await their return, we thank you for your sacrifices.

Recognize your box?

Sometimes boxes arrive in threes or fours, sometimes even more.

When Stephen, our mail courier, rings our doorbell, we know that he has worked especially hard that day, as so have many of you to get all these cards packaged up and in the mail to From Our Hearts.

Stephen checks the return addresses and announces if he recognizes the return name/address or tells us "it looks like it may be someone new sending you cards" - Yes, he's getting to know all of our contributors by name and city/state!

Treva, Treva, Treva

Your box arrived... how many times have we e-mailed you to tell you this?

And this time, your box was whisked away before a shot of the inside could be taken!

Yes, Treva from Crestwood, KY is a household name at From Our Hearts.  She has been donating to our cause from day 1.  Even before we decided to become a not for profit, Treva was sending cards to include in our boxes to send to our son who was sharing with his unit and then to his chaplain once his tour of duty was over (this is how it all began) . . . yes, she has been with us since the very beginning.

And she continues because, well, it is the right thing to do!

This time, 193 cards, 54 card fronts, envelopes, and clear envelopes are all tucked away inside this box.  We only wish we had taken a picture of it.  She sends us VERY well made cards, every time.

Treva, Treva, Treva . . .

How many times have we said thank you?

We say it one more time!

Thank you!

From the bottom of Our Hearts!

Compact Box

One small box, compact box was received (and this was her words) from Gini W from Delafield, WI:

 

Small is a relative word, especially when it comes to cards.  When cards have multiple layers, fewer cards can fit.  The cards that Gini sent to us were very special.

She is a photographer and each and every card created were her own special works of art.  Each card front was a photograph.  Inside, she stamped a saying, a verse, for the occasion and she separated them out accordingly:

She stamped the saying on a slip and included it inside the clear envelope in the back so that they would not have to be opened to read what is inside.  Yes, Gini sent these ready to be placed in the boxes.  From Our Hearts simply added one more to her cards - we placed a sticker in the upper left corner on the front to say what type of card it is.  (Sympathy, on all the sympathy cards, Birthday on all the birthday cards)  We take this extra step when it isn't obvious what type of card it is so that it is easy for our military personnel to choose their perfect card.

Compact?  Yes, and very well made.  We could easilly put 300 of her cards in a box!  Gini, thank you for sending us your photo/stamped cards.  They add variety to our boxes!

From Henderson NV, a Familiar City

Henderson, Nevada . . . that city rings a bell with us and why?  Because this is where Kari M., one of our regular contributor lives.  Only this package has a different name on the return address.  Georgie D.

 

Inside, take a look at these colorful Christmas cards Georgie sent to us:

Just so well made!  Georgie was given a flyer with our name and contact information by Kari and sent these cards on to us because she KNEW that we would get these into the hands of our servicemen and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Georgie, your cards are in transit as this is written.  Your little cardmaking group in Henderson can be assured that their time and effort has been well spent! 

Teens Stamp in Iowa

We received an e-mail from Alex H. from Swedesburg, IA.  He wanted to let us know that he put a box in the mail to us.  It went to our PO box:

 

Alex went on to say, in his e-mail, that his youth group of about 20 teens at his church chose From Our Hearts as their service project.  He said about half of the group are guys and that they really did have alot of fun making the cards.

We had no clue this was happening.

We opened the box:

 

And oh my, the QUALITY of these cards were just amazing!  Each stamped and assembled with such care.

202 cards.  202 envelopes.

 

All created by 20 teenagers in Swedesburg, Iowa to be shipped over to our servicemen and women serving our country.

Our hats off to you, Alex and to your friends for doing your part in supporting our troops.  We thank you for choosing From Our Hearts as YOUR youth group's service project.  Your stamping and assembly of cards is amazing.