Tuesday, February 4, 2014

"Cards From the Heart Card Drive" Totals

Hey everybody! Let me just say....I have been a BUSY girl and I think I need a vacation now! :) I LOVE doing this Card Drive every year, but I must say it gets tiring! But the cards have been mailed, I'm almost finished with the drawing and then I can recoup for next year! :) I wanted to mail all the cards off on Friday, but there was a delay in the envelopes and then the cards started POURING in, so I had to order MORE envelopes, so it took the weekend and yesterday to get everything caught up. 
I had a couple of emails of people sending them in late, but I think everyone's cards came in and were shipped out to the hospitals! But PLEASE make sure you send them in by the due date next year. I like to get them in the mail ASAP, so that there are no delays and make sure they are there on Valentine's Day! It would be devastating if they didn't get there on time!

Here is a pic from the weekend. I like to call it the "Cards From the Heart Card Drive" Sweat Shop! :) I had my husband, my kids, and my nieces over to help finish up with stuffing envelopes! :) They didn't want me to take a picture of their faces, since they weren't "picture ready"! So I just took a picture of some of the process. :) They were a BIG help! I'm very Thankful that I made them come over and help! ;)



And this is what 4,240 cards look like packaged! :) Can you believe that total?! It is CRAZY to me! The Lord truly AMAZES me! 
 The most we have ever collected was 2 years ago and the total was 3,000! I CANNOT Thank you all enough! Ya'll are AMAZING!!!! I get letters in the mail from some of you who make these cards in memory of your kids (so inspiring to me), I had one lady tell me that when she was in 2nd grade, her class made her cards when she was sick in the hospital and she STILL has them to this day! I LOVE that!

 It is truly overwhelming for me at times! I NEVER knew this Card Drive would grow like it has! It started off as a ministry for me to collect 200 cards for St. Jude and then it grew and we had to add more hospitals. We gave to the same amount of hospitals this year. We lost one hospital, but then turned around and gained another BIG hospital and we were able to give WAY more to them! 
I would LOVE to add more hospitals next year. If any of you have a hospital in mind, email me the hospital and I will contact them and see if they might be interested for next year.

Here is a list of where the cards went this year.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
TX Children's Hospital
St. Joseph's Children's Hospital of Tampa
Shands Hospital for Children UF -Florida
Nationwide Children's Hospital- Ohio
St. Louis Children's Hospital Foundation
Cincinnati Children's Hospital
Shriners Hospital for Children- Cincinnati
Shriners Hospital for Children- Northern California
Shriners Hospital for Children- Boston
Shriners Hospital for Children- Galveston
Shriners Hospital for Children- Houston
Sinclair Children's Center- foster home
Hailee- A little girl I've been praying for on Facebook, who is battling cancer.

Well I need to go. I have a LOT more names to add to the drawing! I hope to be done with it hopefully soon and then I will draw the winners and post who the winners are. I'm getting excited for ya'll, there is some GREAT prizes! Thanks again to all the Sponsors! :)

Thank you all again for making this a GREAT Card Drive and I hope you all have a very Blessed day! 

~Winter

11 comments:

Andrea W said...

Awesome! Thanks for sharing the totals and pictures.

Kelly said...

WOW!!! thanks for organizing it all.

Judy1223 said...

Winter, that is AMAZING!!! God is working through your hands...God bless you! (No wonder it is growing so fast each year!) I am so committed to helping with this each year...as the mother of four children, I count my blessings and pray for those little ones in the hospital (and their families) with each card I make. The real prize is being able to participate in such a worthy endeavor...thank you for your time and efforts!

Lisa Petrella said...

WOW!!! Congratulations, Winter!!! What an amazing card drive!!! And BIG THANKS to you and your family for all the time and energy you put into making this happen!!!! You are incredible!!!!

~amy~ said...

Congrats Winter! That's spectacular!!!

Helen F. said...

OMG ~ What an awesome number.
Thank you, Winter and family for all of your amazing work. You are truly a Blessing to the children you are giving a smile to!
Wish I lived closer to give you a hand in stuffing envies and packaging up the cards :-)

Loly Borda said...

Wow Winter! That's awesome! Thank you! It's a real blessing to be part of it!

Inks4fun said...

What a wonderful number to see! I absolutely loved making cards this year and I'm already sketching my ideas for next year. Thanks for all your hard work you do to coordinate this.

Karen McAlpine said...

Hooray, Everyone!! Amazing amount of cards!! Thanks for all your work, Winter!! I hope the kids enjoy the cards!

Mary-Anne V said...

Wow that is an amazing total...CONGRATS! I think when someone like you, decides to do something so generous and loving people just want to join in! So glad the kids in these hospitals will be receiving some wonderful cards.

Cindy Groh said...

That's an amazing number of cards. Hooray!