Thank you and a look ahead...

Where has the last month gone? I meant to finish up posting about The Hope Project weeks ago. Alas, I'm finally getting around to a final update.

What started out as this:

became this:

Most of the bags, packaged and ready for delivery.

Our final total was 51 gift bags for women at the following hospitals:

University Hospital in Salt Lake City
St. Mark's Hospital in Salt Lake City
Intermountain Medical Center in Murray
McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden
Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo

Each bag had an attached tag and "I can." necklace. The tag read:

Merry Christmas
from mothers, daughters and friends
who hope this small gift
lifts your spirit.

We wish you
peace and comfort
during this difficult time.

You can do this.

Trust us.

The week of Christmas, I found out that St. Mark's would like gift bags for their moms. I had already given out the last of the bags so I made these bags with fabric I had in my stash and filled them after a quick trip to Target.

A few hours before I was going to St. Mark's, I found out that they had one more mom than I had bags. I picked up a few more things at the store and packaged them into the basket pictured above. I didn't have time to sew that mom a bag. I ended up meeting the recipient of this basket and having a really memorable visit with her.

During our conversation, she said, "This just made my whole Christmas." It made my my Christmas too.

Thanks to everyone for helping to make The Hope Project possible. I met many of the women and they were very appreciative of the gifts as were the staff at the hospitals.

In addition to many of my friends and family members, the following businesses contributed to The Hope Project:

Amy Butler Design - fabric
Contempo Tile - tiles for the quotes
OPI - nail polishes
The King's English - books
Ruby Snap - cookies
University of Utah Young Alumni - chapsticks, fans, and t-shirts
Kelly Anne Sansom - necklaces
Cactus & Tropicals - poinsettias
Pilot Pens - pens

I know you're not thinking about Christmas 2011 yet, but I hit a couple of post-holiday sales and picked up cards, Sudoku books, mugs, and notebooks for the 2011 bags.

I emailed Deseret Book about the book, The Mother in Me: Real-World Reflections on Growing into Motherhood. It is on sale for $2.99 (down from the original price of $20). I loved this book and included it in about 35 of the 2010 bags. However, since they are clearancing the book out of their inventory, I knew it wouldn't be around next Christmas. They were so generous and donated 60 books for the 2011 bags! I'm so thrilled.

During my communication with Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, I became aware of ongoing service opportunities for their hospital's pediatric patients. Their greatest needs are:

- gowns for the buddy dolls that they give to kids to explain their upcoming procedures
- pajama pants for the kids
- craft kits

I loved the positive energy at our girls' nights out and wondered if anyone was interested in coming to my home for a night of service in February. The projects are really simple. I'm still looking over dates and hoping to gather more supplies. Please let me know if you are interested.

Thanks again for making The Hope Project 2010 a success!