Spring News from the Sweet Pea Foundation!
Each spring brings with it a sense of revitalization and new beginning. It’s the time of year when we plant seeds that will grow into beautiful flowers. This Spring, the Sweet Pea Foundation is planting a few seeds of its own that will grow into something wonderful for children being treated at hospitals in northern Indiana.
As part of our “Seeds of Grace” campaign, we have been working with several local hospitals to establish activities that will directly benefit sick children and their families. Although we will have to start small, our support of these activities should grow in the years to come.
After meeting with members of the Child Life program at Memorial Children’s Hospital in South Bend, we have agreed to sponsor a magician that will entertain children at the hospital. In order to make sure that many children will be able to view the performance, the staff of Child Life will determine the most ideal time and frequency of the magician’s appearances. In addition, we will also provide massage therapy to parents of children being treated at the hospital. In the years to come, we hope to grow both of these “seeds” so that the children and their families can take advantage of these programs with more frequency.
We have also met with the St. Joseph Regional Medical Center and are working on some very exciting projects, including a painted wall mural. We look forward to sharing more details with you about these projects in the near future.
Toy Count & Big Ticket Donations
To date the Sweet Pea Foundation has delivered over 4,175 toys to children’s hospitals. We continue to work toward our goal of 5,000 toys donated by the end of the year. We are planning trips to children’s hospitals in Indianapolis and Chicago for more toy deliveries. The Foundation has also donated over 267 “big ticket” items such as DVDs, crib mobiles, and personal gaming devices. Recently we donated a number of toys and big ticket items to Memorial Children’s and St. Joseph Hospitals. We plan to donate “big ticket” items over the next few years and we will continue to work with hospital staff to determine what items would benefit the children most.
Blarney Bash 2010
A new menu was featured at this year’s Blarney Bash. With the generous assistance of three volunteers, the Foundation purchased and helped prepare the food at our annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration. This year’s fare included corned beef, sweet & sour cabbage, bangers & mash, red potatoes, salad, rolls and several deserts. For kids, homemade mac & cheese and hotdogs were available. We extend a special thanks to our sponsors (listed on the back cover) for their generous support. Save Wednesday, March 17th for next year’s Blarney Bash!
Community & Giving
We encourage you to visit our web site to view photographs from this past year. Our friends at Kay Jewelers in Elkhart once again donated stuffed toys to the Sweet Pea Foundation. During the holiday season, Kay Jewelers collected over 412 stuffed toys from costumers wanting to help sick children. Customers purchase the stuffed toys and the money raised is directed (by Kay Jewelers) to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Customers also have the option to donate the stuffed toys to the Sweet Pea Foundation. We were able to deliver these toys to the pediatric units at four local hospitals.
Earlier this year several of our supporters suggested that the Foundation create a profile on the social media network “Facebook”. So this past March we joined the 21st century and created a Facebook page. In just a few months we have over 550 fans following the Foundation. It is proving to be an effective way for people to keep up with the activities of the Sweet Pea Foundation. We invite your and your friends to becomes fans of the Foundation on Facebook.
Kickoff Classic Golf Outing
Mark your calendar! The 7th Annual Kickoff Classic golf outing has been scheduled for September 10, 2010 at Juday Creek Golf Course in Mishawaka, IN. If you are interested in sponsoring or participating in the event, please contact Pete Letherman at 574-296-1310. You can sign up a foursome or individually. Who will be the next foursome to have their names engraved on the coveted SPF cup? We will forward more detailed information about the outing as we get closer to the event.
Book Donations
This past autumn we told you about the Sweet Pea Foundation adding children’s books as a specific item that we will be donating. The benefits of reading to a child are well documented. Providing books to the hospitals as well as to individual patients will help the healing process while assisting with the cognitive development of the children. To date we have already donated over 115 newly purchased books and plan to provide more in the coming months. We continue to be excited about this new facet of our giving.
Grace-E-Grams
If you have a family member or know of a child that is going to be hospitalized for an extended period of time, please let the Foundation know. We will send a small package of toys and books to the patient. To date we have mailed over 45 Grace-E-Grams.
We remain humbled by your support. Thank you.
With gratitude,
The Sweet Pea Foundation