Throughout the year, Gracie's Gowns gives to other organizations as well. Whether it is extra fabric from gown requests, fabric that just isn't quite best for gown requests or even items we have made to be given to other organizations.
I always feel it is important to support other organizations, not only because they support our mission and endeavors, but because many times more than not, they work with a lot of the same children and families that we do...and that is one of the amazing blessings that has come from starting Gracie's Gowns.
So here is some of the places we have paid it forward to this year so far.
The first one is Madelyn's Hats, which is operated by Melissa in honor and memory of her mother. Melissa makes chemotherapy hats for women battling cancer (and I believe she does make them for children too, though, please do not quote me 100% on that one). We met Melissa on our own Facebook page through a post and just love what she does, so in our donation to her, we included some of our leftover sports team fabrics, and many of the more adult oriented prints and some prints that were too small for gowns, but are the perfect size for her hats.
I always feel it is important to support other organizations, not only because they support our mission and endeavors, but because many times more than not, they work with a lot of the same children and families that we do...and that is one of the amazing blessings that has come from starting Gracie's Gowns.
So here is some of the places we have paid it forward to this year so far.
The first one is Madelyn's Hats, which is operated by Melissa in honor and memory of her mother. Melissa makes chemotherapy hats for women battling cancer (and I believe she does make them for children too, though, please do not quote me 100% on that one). We met Melissa on our own Facebook page through a post and just love what she does, so in our donation to her, we included some of our leftover sports team fabrics, and many of the more adult oriented prints and some prints that were too small for gowns, but are the perfect size for her hats.
Another donation we sent out this year was to another organization called Socks 4 Surgery, which is operated by Ellen. Many of you have probably heard about Socks 4 Surgery if you've been on Facebook for a while and are in groups for parents of children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses.
Ellen makes amazing onesies, T-shirts, and of course socks, all themed around birth defects and medical conditions. When we moved last year, I packed up my sewing area for not only Gracie's Gowns, but all the years of sewing prior to that which was for business. While unpacking, I found these onesies and T-shirts and immediately thought of Ellen and wanted to send them to her. In that conversation we learned her family member had cancer and was a huge Cleveland Browns fan, so with the onesies, we made a chemo bag cover from remnant fabric from gowns and sent it as well.
Ellen makes amazing onesies, T-shirts, and of course socks, all themed around birth defects and medical conditions. When we moved last year, I packed up my sewing area for not only Gracie's Gowns, but all the years of sewing prior to that which was for business. While unpacking, I found these onesies and T-shirts and immediately thought of Ellen and wanted to send them to her. In that conversation we learned her family member had cancer and was a huge Cleveland Browns fan, so with the onesies, we made a chemo bag cover from remnant fabric from gowns and sent it as well.
The other larger fabric donation we have made so far this year was to an organization we have supported several times of the last couple of years, Bee Brave.
The majority of the time we are sending smaller scrap pieces, but this time we had several large pieces of fabric we had already cut into multiple gowns and then we had several pieces that were just too heavy of fabrics for gown requests, but would be perfect and durable enough for their Busy Buddies.
Melissa (must be an awesome name for starting organizations), has just recently moved, so Bee Brave is taking a little break while they are getting settled and set back up, but they should be up and running soon! They make amazing activity trays for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses.
The majority of the time we are sending smaller scrap pieces, but this time we had several large pieces of fabric we had already cut into multiple gowns and then we had several pieces that were just too heavy of fabrics for gown requests, but would be perfect and durable enough for their Busy Buddies.
Melissa (must be an awesome name for starting organizations), has just recently moved, so Bee Brave is taking a little break while they are getting settled and set back up, but they should be up and running soon! They make amazing activity trays for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses.
Lastly, we have a NICU Smock donation to add to the year. This is separate from our usual NICU surprise boxes because they are not only a part of another organization's care packages, they are for Christmas time.
Handful of Hope puts together NICU care packages for different holidays throughout the year for Penn Highlands Healthcare in DuBois, Pennsylvania. We have sent them some Christmas gowns in the past and were more than honored to do so again this year. Each year they put together around twenty care packages, so we sent over a few more in case there are several being admitted and discharged from the NICU again this year, or even to go towards next year's care packages.
No worries, we have been sending out NICU surprise boxes and I do have to get caught up on writing about them, but while I was going through pictures on the computer and updating the website I wanted to share some of the behind the scenes fun we've been having.
Hope everyone has been enjoying their summer so far!
Much Love and Many Blessings,
Jessica
Handful of Hope puts together NICU care packages for different holidays throughout the year for Penn Highlands Healthcare in DuBois, Pennsylvania. We have sent them some Christmas gowns in the past and were more than honored to do so again this year. Each year they put together around twenty care packages, so we sent over a few more in case there are several being admitted and discharged from the NICU again this year, or even to go towards next year's care packages.
No worries, we have been sending out NICU surprise boxes and I do have to get caught up on writing about them, but while I was going through pictures on the computer and updating the website I wanted to share some of the behind the scenes fun we've been having.
Hope everyone has been enjoying their summer so far!
Much Love and Many Blessings,
Jessica
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