Running Low on Basket Supplies!

Hello all you out there in Internet-Land! :D
Last week I had the opportunity to meet a new friend here at the hospital. His name is Taylor and he was in the hospital getting chemo. SUPER cute and SUPER sweet! I gave his Nana my card and had a chance to talk with her for a few minutes. I hope they made sure she got a basket before he was discharged! (I took 3 more with me that day)

Speaking of baskets....

My stock is LOOOOWW - if it had not been for two faithful friends who remember me always, I would not have the main things I needed for the baskets last week!

I am going to list out the items here that I am completely out of, then I will list the items that are getting low:

COMPLETELY OUT OF:
Toothbrush/toothpaste

(you can get a kit with Crest at the Dollar Tree)

Chapstick

(please make sure it has a seal on it)

2008 or 2008/2009 Calendar
Address book

Microwave Popcorn

Microwave Meal

(Hormel makes very tasty ones for about $1.75 each)

Digital Thermometer

(WalMart now has them for about $4 in Health & Beauty)

Mints/gum

(preferably minty flavors for sleeping moms when Dr. comes in early)

Thank You notes

(again, my favorite store, Dollar Tree has cute ones!)

Lysol sanitizing wipes

(needs to say "ANTIBACTERIAL", "kills 99.9% of germs")

GETTING LOW ON:
Hand lotion (purse size)
Emery boards (kind that has a wrapper are best)
Body wash (travel size)
Pen

If the hospital called today and asked for a basket, I don't have enough to put together ONE complete basket. Thankfully I dropped off 3, but I have a feeling they haven't had any for a while, so they could possibly deliver all 3 in just a matter of a week.

I had some ideas about how YOU could help get these items.

* If you work and have a breakroom/snackroom, maybe set up a jar for spare change near the coke machine, people could drop their quarters in there. Do it for a week and probably get a few dollars.

*Pass around an envelope asking for anonymous donations. Make sure you put your name on the envelope so it will be returned to you. You can also put my blog website on there so they will see how the donation will help.

*One day at lunch, ask your friends when they are leaving their tip if they would also like to put a dollar towards the purchase of these items. As you can see from the list, many items only cost $1 or less.

*Ask your Sunday School class to have a "Digital Thermometer Drive". Ask them to bring as many Digital Thermometers as they can collect in a week. Better yet, challenge another Sunday School Class, even the whole department! Have a table or large storage container in a central location and ask folks to drop them in during the assembly time. Imagine how many thermometers could be collected in that one day!!!

*Talk to your Bible Study group about providing the items to fill a whole basket.

These baskets cost approximately $24.80 (back when I started this last year). I am sure the cost of everything has increased with the gas, but $25 is still a fair estimate if you shop around for nice but cheap items. Buying in bulk is helpful too. I received a box of notebooks after the school supply clearance last year and I am still using that box! I also received several boxes of purse size hand sanitizer during that clearance and I still have one of the boxes of 6 bottles! Keep your eyes peeled for good deals!!! :D

With HOPE,
Tammy

Back home....

As soon as the party was over, we headed for the annual family vacation at Gulf Shores. We had a great time and the kids are nice and BROWN. We got home on Saturday and later that night, both kids were sick! Bryant is fine now and Colette had to go to the ped today to get antibiotics for an ear infection! But it is so nice to be back to "normal".

So I kept a copy of the newspaper article to show at the family reunion. Did anyone else see it? Does anyone have a copy I can have? I wanted to put one up at church, but I only have the one copy. It was in Saturday, July 5, on the front page of the Metro section. I have noticed several new locations on the blog so I hope something good comes from this media attention!!

The party was wonderful! I had so many helpers, it was really a busy time, but I didn't feel stressed about ANY aspect of it. Thank you to all of you who came and spent your evening figuring out what I needed done! ha! Believe me, I am learning what *not* to do with every event! I think it went well and I hope you will want to come back for another event!!!

I hope to have the photos uploaded in the next day or so. I did get photo releases on each child there, so I finally get to post the pics of our decorations and helpers!! If you were there and took photos, please email them to me so I can add yours to the album. My email is chemomoms@yahoo.com.

I think the kids (and parents) favorite part was the shave ice machine. Once the party was winding down and some clean up started, several of us loaded up 2 carts with all the extra burgers, chicken, chips and cokes and took them to the 4th floor. There were many parents who were unable to leave their child, so this is what I try to do to make ChemoMoms different. We pushed our carts down the hall, knocking on the doors and bringing the party to them! We took the balloons from the cafeteria and gave them to the kids, along with beanie babies provided by Child Life. The parents were (as usual) surprised that we offered the treats to them too. They would hesitate until we reassured them that it was for them too, and then you could see the expressions on their faces...I can't explain it, but I know how it feels. :D

The funny part was how many parents wanted snow cones! What is up with that? I am the same way! I always want a banana snow cone if I can get one. Maybe because we are all kids at heart! I will try to include the shave ice machine again in the next event, which will probably be a Movie Night in September.

Which leads me to the next big deal: September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Last year I made metallic gold stickers and passed them around my community. I also made real gold ribbon lapel pins (with the tie tack backs). This year I would like to sell them online to raise money for ChemoMoms. I scrapbook so I just used some of my tools at home and made gold ribbon stickers that were great to use on MANY things I mailed out last year. I just passed out the lapel pins (but they did take a lot of time and effort). I will try to get some pics of them and see if anyone is interested in buying them. I already have an order (thanks Megan!) that I will be shipping to Indiana when Megan holds her Alex's Lemonade Stand (which raises money for childhood cancer research).

I am also going to hit the hospital HARD to try to get them to raise gold ribbons all around the campus. I have some ribbon already (Hobby Lobby already has CHRISTMAS decorations!) so it is VERY easy to locate wide, wire-edged ribbon. Hopefully I can use the contacts I have at WKRG and the paper to get Mobile in on the "secret" about September!!!

The Movie Night is also in the works. I did one last year and it is MUCH less hassle than July 4th. Just have some popcorn, maybe the shave ice again, and play a newly released, family friendly movie and it is great.

Another dream I have is to have a luncheon for the hem/onc doctors, nurses and staff during the month to thank them for their tireless efforts and honor them for all they do. Maybe someone in the catering/restaurant business would like to help me do this. Of course, all donations are directed to USA Children's & Women's, so it would definitely be a charitable contribution to the hospital. I just get the idea going and do the legwork.

Let me know what you think about these ideas...I want to do more than just the one movie night this year.

With HOPE,
Tammy

T-I-R-E-D!!!

Here is the news video from earlier today...I will update more later...check your newspaper tomorrow (we don't know what section)

WKRG.com Video

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

I just checked my computer (in between loading the van and getting Miss Priss dressed) and found that we DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY for the burgers!!!! (and a little extra to cover any other last minute items)

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR GIVING FOR THESE FAMILIES!

Don't forget to watch Channel 5 local TONIGHT (wkrg.com for the out-of-towners) and check the newspaper in the next day or so (al.com) for the write-up about tonight!

If you wanted to make a donation but have not, you are more than welcome to do so. I am taking a basket with me to meet the reporter today, hopefully that will get some airtime and all money I receive during the year goes to pay for the baskets and any special requests by inpatient parents that I can help with.

Please continue to keep up with the information I post here, September - Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is coming up and it is time to start planning that!!!

With HOPE AND HAPPINESS,
Tammy

Thursday Update

Wow - these past 2 days have been so hectic and stressful! This is when I REALLY wish I wasn't the only ChemoMom in ChemoMoms of Mobile!!! :D

I think I have put about $50 in gas in my little car with bad A/C just to save money on all the driving I have been doing! I made a huge circle today, starting out going to West Mobile, then down to the hospital and finally by Brookley then back home. I think bad air conditioning just makes you tired=er - if that's a word!

I visited the cafeteria and got a feel for where the manager wants us to be - I'm not real crazy about it, but we will make the best of it. I thought we would use an hour to decorate, it make take more time because it is going to be pretty difficult and we will have to do some figuring. Also, the elevator into the cafeteria is broken, so anyone who has an IV will have to walk outside to come in the side door (with their nurse, of course).

But I did get a crash course in running the popcorn cart, and I pulled it up to the Treehouse until then. It takes some effort to move that thing! I also dropped off the flyers to be passed out.

The biggest news of the day is that BOTH the newspaper AND the TV reporters will be there tomorrow night! This will be the first official "ChemoMoms" event they have attended! This is my 4th event, but I never had the media involved. There was a TON of red tape and lots of rules to follow to allow this to happen, but I think the hospital will get some good press and hopefully I will finally get some community support? Prior to this event, my church family has really been my only volunteers. This time my Gulf Coast Tres Dias community has stepped in and really makes up most of the volunteers for tomorrow night. Yay!!

We were not able to get cheeseburgers donated...they officially want 2 weeks advance notice, and I didn't have the letter then, so I will know next time. Therefore I am going to have to BUY 40 cheeseburgers/hamburgers. I received a $10 donation last night from a lady at church and that paid for the popcorn and oil I bought, so hopefully someone will help with the $40 we will need to pay for the burgers. Thankfully everything else has been provided!!

We DID get a donation from Chick-Fil-A of 2 trays of nuggets, so that will really help out in the food. The reason I still want the burgers is mainly for the parents who aren't able to come because their child is sick or too little. I get to go door-to-door and greet the parents and actually give THEM a drink and a burger. That is the main reason I do ChemoMoms - for the PARENTS.

If you are planning to bring your children when you help tomorrow night, please try to feed them before they get to the hospital. We will have PLENTY of snow cones and popcorn, but I don't really know how we are going to stretch the chicken and burgers. I know my own children will be tempted to get into the nuggets, but I want to make sure the kids from the hospital get theirs. At the end of the night, we will certainly give away the extras!

Tonight I am going to call everyone that I know has volunteered. If you don't get a phone call from me, please call me because I might not remember everyone! Thanks so much!

With HOPE,
Tammy 406-5820 (cell)

Wednesday morning update

Just wanted to let you know there may be an article in the local paper about the party! Yippee!

Also, we have a good number of folks planning to come, but I am still hoping at least one or two small donations will reach the paypal account. There is always something we forget at the last minute and it would be nice not to be worrying about where that money would come from!

Thanks so much to all of you who have donated the items and committed your family's time on Friday night to serving these families who can't enjoy the holiday at home with their loved ones. When they leave on Friday night and go back upstairs to their rooms, I hope they feel like they have been with family and just feel loved and full of hope!

With HOPE,
Tammy

Tuesday Update

Just wanted to tell you all what I got accomplished today:

Since our face painting lady can't come, I was on the hunt for tattoos...walked into the Target Dollar Spot and guess what they had? GLITTER PATRIOTIC TATTOOS!! The best part? HALF PRICE!! So I got 4 packs for $2!! YAY!

Went to Hobby Lobby, looking for some other cheap craft ideas, since a couple of my prior crafts won't work this year...got some stuff, got in line, used my tax exempt card and the manager came over to approve it. Well I forgot my letter to ask for donations, and he said they do that through corporate, but I asked if he thought it could be approved by this Friday, and he asked me what I wanted and I just named a couple of things and he said GO AHEAD! WHOOO HOO!!

Went to Mobile Popcorn and picked up popcorn and stuff for the popcorn cart that the hospital is letting us use.

OH YEAH - THE BEST NEWS OF THE DAY IS::::
WE GET TO HAVE THE PARTY IN THE CAFETERIA!!!! YYYYAAAAAAYYYY!!! This is good for several reasons:
1) loading and unloading from our vehicles will be a snap
2) spill blue snowcone? NO PROBLEM!
3) kids can see the night sky and feel "outside" more...(floor to ceiling windows)
4) more room to do the crafts and allow the parents to hang out too!
5) the hospital won't be inundated with the smell of popcorn, just in case of any burning smell...
6) the shave ice machine is noisy

SO hooray! Everything is working out great! And we have several adults (and some teens) coming so it is going to be MUCH more organized than last year. I will still need to get a couple more things...we are still nailing down the items for the crafts and will need a few more cases of cokes, so if someone still wants to help out, it is not too late!!

With HOPE,
Tammy

Getting CLOSE

I just wanted to remind you that if you wanted to make a monetary donation, please do so before Thursday. I have only received enough money to buy the balloons and still need either the craft items or money to buy the craft items between today and Thursday.

I am headed out to Hobby Lobby this morning, and then on to McDonald's. I just pray that I speak with the right person who has a soft-heart for this sort of thing and they are willing to help. I know God can touch their heart and cause them to give beyond my expectation. I pray He will lead me to them!

The pony beads and cut-out stars are (hopefully she could find them) being bought, but I still need the other items on the list. I guess we used most of the craft supplies last year, but thankfully I have ALL the decorations (minus the balloons)!

Please mention the party to anyone you might work with or maybe tomorrow night at church. If I had $50 total, I think that would take care of everything except the hamburgers. If I had $100, I could take care of the hamburgers too (just in case)!

Thanks for spreading the word!
With HOPE,
Tammy