From Our Hearts

Thank You For Your Support!

A quick reminder:

 

Thank you for your support!

 

Mailing (Due) Dates for 2012 Special Shipments

Finally, the blog has been updated - see the right side bar.  We appreciate your patience!  This year, instead of listing the mailing dates of the packages, the requested "due dates" for the cards has been published.

The 2012 special shipments will be mailed on or about 6-8 weeks prior to the holiday and we request cards to be received by the following dates.  This allows time for our volunteers to receive, check in and package up all the cards we receive:

St. Patrick's Day: January 27
Easter: February 12
Mother's Day: March 18
Father's Day: April 22
4th of July: May 23
Halloween: September 6
Thanksgiving: October 1
Christmas/Holiday: October 30
Valentine’s Day: December 26

From time to time, From Our Hearts may extend the due date when we find our boxes arrive quicker than we anticipate.

And remember, we accept cards of all types year round, holding them until such time as they are ready to be mailed - for example, Christmas cards, arriving today, are placed in "holding boxes" until next October when they will be mailed.

All occasion cards are needed year round and mailed over every 4-6 weeks, depending upon the numbers of donations received and available funds.

We thank you for your support!

We Appreciate Your Contributions

Your help is appreciated...and whatever extra steps you can take assures that the cards will be shipped out quickly!

If you are able to send your cards ready to be shipped - with an appropriate sized envelope and sealed in a clear envelope - with our "slip" enclosed - this would be very much appreciated.

Links to the slips and information on how the cards are prepared to be shipped are available on the FAQ link on the right side bar of our blog.

Regardless if you can provide them "box ready", we appreciate your cards!

Thank you from the team at the home front of From Our Hearts!

IMPORTANT - Limitations on Thickness of Cards

From Our Hearts has received an email from one of our chaplains with word that the USPS has informed him of some disheartening news...

Our military personnel send our cards home free of charge.  However, the USPS will begin charging them at their location a fee for cards that are thick - those with big buttons and wide ribbon tied in bows, etc. that make the card "thick".  He wasn't certain if this was the case at other locations, but we can assume this is a mandate for all locations.

We ask everyone to limit these types of embellishments on your cards.  Regular buttons, brads and ribbon are okay.

Thank you for your consideration.

Mailing Addresses

Mailing addresses for boxes of cards:

USPS (through the postal service):

From Our Hearts

PO Box 105243

Jefferson City, MO  65110

 

UPS or FED EX (ground):

From Our Hearts

1100 Dogwood Dr

Jefferson City, MO  65109

Please email us for the address for sending card fronts and card stock contributions!

NEW! FAQs Now Available on Our Blog

At the request of many, a comprehensive list of questions and answers is now posted on the right side bar of our blog.  We hope that this will help to give you the information you need to know when getting your cards ready to mail to us!

Once again, we are indebted to Gretchen Barron for her talent and creativity in creating the button and help in posting this information.

We appreciate our volunteers who help us in so many ways and to all who help us to fill up the dozens of boxes we mail every 4-6 weeks!

Gratitude

Our gratitude is heartfelt . . .

We appreciate the outpouring of support so many of you have shown - not only with the continued support of sending us your creations to mail to the troops, but for your financial support of our operation as well.  Without your help, boxes of our cards would not be shipped every 4-6 weeks.

We continue to get new requests for boxes.  We just picked up yet one more contact on Saturday.  This brings our count up to 32.  Multiply that number by 280-300 cards and this is how many we send in every shipment.

Postage has increased as of January 1 to $12.95 a box (up from $12.50).  Still a bargain - $2.00 off the cost of mailing within the continental US but this means our postage costs have gone up.

We accept Paypal contributions and of course, check contributions may be mailed to:

From Our Hearts, PO Box 105253, Jefferson City, MO  65110

All contributions are tax deductible.  A letter for tax purposes will be sent upon request.

We thank you for your support and for supporting our service men and women!

 

From Card Fronts to Cards - Contributors Make It Possible!

Many of you support our operation by sending card fronts, card stock and supplies to our volunteers in Topeka, KS - their "mission" is to turn donated card fronts into beautiful cards.

Card fronts are simply the fronts of cards that individuals swap with one another by mail (or Stampin' Up! demonstrators swap at local get togethers or at the annual convention) to get new ideas for cards, color combinations, and uses for stamp sets.  Many times these card fronts end up in shoe boxes or drawers and are forgotten.

From Our Hearts gladly accepts these card fronts that are no longer being used!  Regardless of their condition - our volunteers, headed by Regina Aldrine, remake them into "like new" cards.  We are amazed at their creativity, tenacity and talent!  Contact us for the mailing address and we will be happy to provide it to you - they like to stay busy - and have re-made over 10,000 card fronts that formerly were put aside.

Many contributors have sent boxes recently to Topeka:

Ching T from Whittier, CA sent cards and coffee!

and this box of card fronts:

Dee T from Arlington Heights, IL shipped 180 fronts:

Dee's son just shipped out to Afghanistan - we wish him the best and will begin shipping our cards over to his unit this week.

And from Sharon C, Allen Park, MI - 352 card fronts.

Wow!!  That is enough for more than one entire box to ship over.

Next up:  Sage K from Albuquerque, NM mailed cards and fronts and envelopes, too!

Janet P is from Omak, WA and this is her first contribution to From Our Hearts:

150 card fronts and 21 cards!

Susan S, Egg Harbor Township, NJ sent this next box of cards and envelopes:

Regina sent them on to us at the home office - beautiful cards!

This next box was postmarked Cortland, OH and our contributor?  Jolene S:

Jolene sent not only lovely cards but card stock and lots of it.

Card stock is needed by our volunteers.  Why?  Each card front is mounted on a card stock base - and 80 lb weight is what they use as it makes for a nice, sturdy card base.

Mary Ellen C from Wood River, IL also sent card stock - 21 packages of Stampin' Up!® in total.

Wow!!  This will make over 1,000 cards.

Count them up . . . our contributors are so very generous and will be keeping our volunteers busy and we like it that way.

Thank you for your support!!!

 

4,500 Envelopes!

Lots and lots of envelopes - this is what we found when we opened this BIG box sent to us from Ching T, Whittier, CA.  Ching thought we could use them...

We go through so many envelopes every month, Ching's donation is sure to help us get through our next big shipment of cards.

This single box contains 500 envelopes - and From Our Hearts has already emptied it!

Our thanks to you, Ching!

Christmas Comes Early To From Our Hearts!

2 shelving units have been donated to From Our Hearts, thanks to the generous heart of Kristin C - and we are on our way to being able to move into our new space!!  We are thrilled!  We have a ways to go - one step at a time...

Thank you, Kris, for your most generous donation.  We appreciate your early Christmas gift to From Our Hearts!