Cards For ORMC Project

Cards For ORMC PROJECT #ORMCLOVE

Wow this event has been amazing! It started as a desire to do something in the wake of the Pulse tragedy. Understandably I was unable to get addresses for the victims and their families, so when a friend from church mentioned doing cards for the doctors and nurses that treated them I was delighted to build a project around encouraging them.

I started by calling up Stampin’ Up with my idea and asking for a donation of products. They sometimes do this for good causes and were delighted to send me a box of retired product valued at over $200. This was such a blessing as I didn’t want to deplete my personal supplies for a charitable project. I focused on using everything in the box to form the core of my card projects.I then contacted the office staff at Altamonte Mall near my house to talk to them about having a free public card making event. My original thought was setting up in the food court, but due to the scale of this project I figured I should run things by them. I was so glad I did, Marisol and Beatrice were so helpful.

The first cards made were with my Church (Concord Street Church of Christ) Card Ministry, which I recently started to make and send cards to members and charitable causes. We made 60 cards and 20 treat bags with chocolate for the 30 staff members specifically in the trauma ward of ORMC. We had about 12 members participate and it only took about 2 hours.

I started preparing the cards for the event, which took me a whole week. Several wonderful friends come by the house and helped me prepare cards. These ladies were so helpful! Thank you Diane, Precious, Simone, and Janette!!!!!

We ended up preparing at total of 372 cards for the event!!!

These included pre-made cards that were donated by SU demos Diane and Linda, for those who didn’t want to sit and make a card at the event. We also made a giant card out of a science fair tri-fold board, for participants to sign at the event. (Thanks for the idea Precious!)

On Saturday July 2 from 12:00 – 6pm we set up at the mall in front of Macy’s. I had a total of 14 volunteers help throughout the day these included church and stamping friends. The event was a huge success!! We had a great turn-out and lots of support from the community. The giant card ended up with over 200 signatures!!

While we did not run out of cards at the event we did have a total of 328 signed cards by the end of the event. I delivered them to the hospital’s volunteer services on Tuesday.

Now while I will not get to personally meet with any of the doctors or nurses who received these cards filled with words of encouragement and support, I am happy to know that I helped make a difference. In a community filled with shock and sorrow over the loss of so many lives in such a tragic way, I was able to help spread some love and encouragement. We all need to take time to show more gratitude and support for others. Lily, one of my downline said it best that making cards is healing and I truly believe it can be.