Joplin support

After the shocking tornados in Joplin, MO, my first reaction was to drive down there and help, after all I'm only a couple hours away (and thankfully I have friends with the same thought). But so many other Kansas Citians, fellow statesmen and countrymen wanted to volunteer and Joplin wasn't able to accommodate the support after such a devastation. Finally, I've talked to one friend who was able to go down and help for a day, although he said it will still take several months (if not years) to get the city back to it's original state.

Moosylvania, a St. Louis based marketing and advertising agency, designed a series of posters in honor of Joplin, with the proceeds going to the Southwest Missouri chapter of United Way.




Lovely, aren't they?

Via grain edit.

DIFFA Holidays by Design Wreath

This year is my first time participating in DIFFA Kansas City's Holidays by Design, where they auction off holiday items created by Kansas City designers. DIFFA-KC supports the prevention of HIV and AIDS by funding education and awareness programs in Greater Kansas City.

I was inspired by the flat, stylized and modern bouquet clocks and other modern graphics that have been simplified to a flat surface, very reminiscent of the modern take on cabriole legs.

Above is my crafty-modern mistletoe wreath. I fused 5 layers of alternating chartreuse and kelly green wool felt to create a substantial base wreath background and cut it in the simplified greenery shape. I added the red felt berries as an area of interest and a cute button on the back for easy hanging. Hopefully I'll be able to attend Holidays by Design this year and see what other designers have created!

A+ Blood Donation

I think donating blood is extremely valuable and hope that everyone that is capable to donate does so. But you can find those reasons (like every pint can save up to three lives) elsewhere on the internet. I want to tell you about how it can benefit you.

A couple of weeks ago I received my Community Blood Center card in the mail and found out that donating blood can also benefit me. The Community Blood Center website let's you monitor your donor history and track your own health stats through it's free Wellness program! It charts your cholesterol, blood pressure, heart rate, & temperature. What a great way to keep track of your health statistics?

If that's not incentive enough, the Wellness Program also let's you "buy" things with the points you earn for donating blood. You earn 100 points every time you donate whole blood, and an additional 100 points just for signing up for the free program! I bought AMC movie theater tickets with my points, but there also other cool things like a pizza cutter. And who wouldn't want a pizza cutter from the Blood Center?

In case you aren't currently donating blood, there are now two great reasons for you to start! But most importantly you're saving lives... shortages of all blood types happen during the summer and winter holidays, so get going!

Sadly, I was supposed to donate blood this evening, but as it turns out I need to wait another 3 weeks... I think I had my months messed up when trying to schedule my appointment. :(

Beans! Beans! The wonderful fruit...

I volunteered for the BackSnack program again tonight... this time I got to pack the beans! How appropriate?

(Anyone who knows me, even a little bit, knows my love for any kind of bean!)

BackSnack Pack

On Thursday night I volunteered with a work group to help pack food bags for Harvesters BackSnack Program in KC.

"Harvesters offers the BackSnack program, which provides backpacks of food to low-income children for the weekend, to combat weekend hunger. The program creates a partnership between Harvesters, a participating school and a local corporate, civic or religious organization."

Last year, Harvesters started with 650 students in the program, by the end of the year that number had grown to over 8,000 children! This weekend is the start of the BackPack program for this school year, with 2,500 students enrolled. On Thursday night we had 28 volunteers, worked for 2 hours and created approximately 1,080 bags full of food to go out to students. I was slightly disappointed in this number, we were working fast and we packed less than half the amount needed for one week!

I was at the beginning of the assembly line, so I didn't see everything that went into the bags... here's what I can remember: chocolate milk, 2% milk (they were packaged so they didn't need to be refrigerated), Campbell's vegetable soup, juice, canned fruit, a granola bar, chocolate pudding, Easy Mac, Dinty Moore canned meal, and even more. I thought they got a great variety of yummy foods! I toured the facility before we got started packing and it was really neat to see all of the storage areas, some for disaster relief (which was low because a shipment had just gone out to Texas), a huge refrigerator and freezer area, "shopping" area for local food pantries, and other BackSnack bags (they rotate 3 different food bags so the kiddos don't get the same thing each week).

Here's some info from Harvesters supporting the program:

Why is Harvesters so committed to this program? Because it makes such a difference. Food does much more than alleviate hunger. Teachers involved with BackSnack report the following:
• 68% see improvements in grades and behavior
• 84% see improvements in attendance
• 71% see improvements in social skills
• 83% see improvements in self-esteem
• 77% see improvements in children’s sense of responsibility

Once I got to work yesterday I immediately signed up for the remaining opening volunteer times... the earliest being in February 2009! I think everyone wants to support this great program.