We had SUCH a blast at our annual Song of My Heart Demonstrator Team Honor Flight fundraiser this year! After two years off for covid, we were READY to party hard, with a goal of making AND writing in 1,000 cards in one day. These will all be given to veterans on their Honor Flights to Washington, D.C., flying from any of the four Wisconsin Honor Flight hubs.
But we didn't just make our goal... we SMASHED it outta the park!!!
Are you ready to hear our grand total?
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We made and wrote in 1,952 cards for veterans!!!
A GIANT thank you to everyone who donated, mailed in cards, prepped the designs, managed the auction, wrote your little fingers off, and stamped away the day. I am still getting packages of cards in the mail and will make sure those get to the organization as well.
The biggest thank you of all goes to my beloved Stampin' Up, who donated ALL of the cardstock bases, adhesive, cleaners, table papers, bags and more! They also donated enough cash to Honor Flight to sponsor eight veterans and companions!! This was all part of their Make A Difference program, through which I was honored to receive the Heart of Stampin' Up award. The award goes to just one person, but our Honor Flight efforts truly are a team effort.
We had three stamping shifts throughout the day in order to allow the max number of stampers to fit in the studio. Many stayed longer than their original shift to continue stamping, and some stayed all day long to help. Others came in Friday night to set up or stayed after Saturday night or came back Monday night to clean up, count cards, and reassemble the studio. I appreciate you all! Especially since my back went into spasms for the three days before our event and I fell really behind in everything necessary to do at the last moment.
Honor Flight is close to our hearts! If you would like to find a chapter near you and find out how you can donate time, funds or cardmaking skills, click here.
Every little bit counts! We had only a small auction this year but we still raised over $1,000--enough to fund two companions to travel along with their veterans on their Honor Flights. If cardmaking is not your thing, use your talents to make something that can be donated, like the gorgeous lap quilts my mother in law Shirley made, or the wooden desk clock and organizer made by a 93-year old WW2 vet.
Gotta say, though, the BEST part of the day was gathering with my peeps. It's been too long!! It was a real joy to have my mom there as well--a long-time dream of ours to stamp together, fulfilled!
Now, I KNOW you want to see the designs!!! This post is getting long, so I made a separate one here.
I can't WAIT to present the check and the boxes and boxes of finished cards to the next meeting of Badger Honor Flight out of Madison. They loved hearing about Stampin' Up and how what we do meshes so perfectly with what they need, cards for Mail Call.We are a match made in heaven!
If this post has inspired you to look into Honor Flight as a one-time service project or a long-term charitable effort, please leave a comment and let me know! It would be so cool if this movement spread until every single Honor Flight hub city had a group of stampers supporting them.
Congratulations! What a wonderful project and so happy that SU thinks so, too!
Posted by: Margaret | 04/26/2022 at 12:48 PM
Kudos to all of you!!
Posted by: Karen Tenney | 04/26/2022 at 04:23 PM
What a great event!!! I would be interested in learning more and perhaps organizing something similar in my state! So glad you had lots of helpers! Back pain is the worst!
Posted by: Denise Adair | 04/26/2022 at 05:53 PM
WOW!!! You and your stamping buddies are making a huge difference in so many lives. Thank you for what you do for our veterans. You all are an inspiration! I live in the San Diego area and am familiar with the Honor Flights. I'm going to see if there are any similar Stamp Camps in my area or if not, I'll start making patriotic cards to share.
Jinny
Posted by: Jinny Straeter | 04/26/2022 at 10:58 PM