contact me

Just a reminder that if you want to get involved, the best thing to do is email me directly! Email me from the button at the top of the screen, or by sending me a message at sara.nunn@gmail.com! ;)

Amazon List

I've got a cool little button at the top left of the page now, connecting you to my wish list on Amazon. There were several things I couldn't put on the list, things I'll get in person (like the chocolates) things I'm trying to get donated through stores, donations I'm seeking from specific places or people, and other items I might be able to get a discount on. But there is still plenty to choose from for those who want to simply buy something off a list and have it mailed to me!

I've begun contacting stores, looking for partners in this project. I'm also beginning to reach out to a few bloggers, crafty people I know, and friends & family. I'm not all the way there yet with this Initial Request, but then again I am at home alone with the two boys while my husband is away. I'll cut myself some slack. ;)

It is ON!!

4 months from now I hope to be tidying up the last of the donations for Preemie Project 2009. Of course, that means I need to get my butt in gear about asking for donations!

My plan for this year is here: http://preemiepresents.blogspot.com/2009/04/2009-preemie-project-and-march-for.html

The story behind this project is here: http://preemiepresents.blogspot.com/2008/12/why-i-am-doing-this.html


WHAT I NEED: (with the idea of creating 40 identical gifts)

• Donations. I buy most of the items for the gifts myself, and it is easiest for me to receive donations and then buy things when they come on sale. Also, I can sometimes get a discount from stores (particularly online stores) for this project, so the money can go further sometimes if I am the one spending it. ALL DONATIONS are very carefully put into a separate bank account and used wisely!
• Blankets. Lovely, warm, cuddly handmade blankets made with love stitched right in. This is where handmade means the most to me.
  
• Hats. Knitters unite! I want hats. Hats to fit a peach. Hats to fit an orange. Hats to fit a grapefruit. Preemies struggle to control their body temperatures, and keeping their heads nice and cozy goes a long way in keeping these tiny creatures comfortable.
  
• Clothes. Micro preemie outfits, preemie outfits, 0-3 month outfits. Most important is in the preemie range, usually around a 4-6pound size, as a "going home" outfit. But realistically, many babies won't be going home for months and they need their own little clothes while they are getting better in the hospital. Donations help, but if you buy any of these items yourself they still get used.
  
• Candles. I will be soliciting a bunch of handmade candle vendors on Etsy this year, but I'm not sure how far that will get me. These gifts are designed for the PARENTS mainly, and a little, glowing, fragrant candle can go al ong way in clearing your mind of their angst. Last year I used donations and bought a ton of candles from Ikea, this year I'd like to put a little more focus on this item and see if I can get better fragranced items, and would LOVE to get more handmade.
• Hand Sanitizers. This stuff gets used a lot with a preemie. We had to use it before the nurses would let us in the room every time, and when we got home with Henry we used it a lot as a precaution as well, since a sickness in a preemie is a lot harder than a sickness in a full term baby. Last year I used donations to buy full sized Bath & Body Works hand saitizers. I'd love donations of these full sized bottles, or money to purchase them myself.
• Coffee. Parents of newborns need coffee anyway, the parents of a preemie even more so. Well, at least we did. ;) Last year I bought small 2-3 serving bags of flavored coffees. This year I'd like to try to get larger bags if possible. A full sized bag of ground coffee from Starbucks, Peets, Caribou Coffee etc... are they on sale at the grocery store? Get a discount? Grab them ans send them to me! Otherwise this is another place donations will go.
  
• Thank You Cards. Last year my fellow Etsy card makers and I were able to put 5 handmade Thank You cards in each gift. These parents will have a lot of people to thank. I kept the thank you's gender neutral and purposely NOT happy looking thank yous - much more pretty but generic - because realistically some of these parents may be going home without their child, and their thank you notes shouldn't have puppies and rainbows on them.
  
• Socks. Preemie socks, nice and itty bitty, for the same reason hats are needed. Last year I was able to get a discount on price from an online shop, but still bought more with donations and put them in the bags.
• Chocolate. Last year I took hundred and hundreds of Hershey Kisses and wrapped them up in little bags with white bows on them. I'll be doing the same thing this year, and would love donations of Hershey Kisses or the money to buy them. The best time to do this is after Halloween when all the candy goes on MEGA sale! That would be a great time to get EXTRA chocolate as well because seriously? That is probably the most important part of the bag!!
• Developmental Toys. This is a new goal of mine this year. In talking with one of the nurses last year, she suggested that I donate items for the nursing staff to give away to families they identify as having a greater need. I'm lucky. When Henry was born early we had nothing for him, but we were able to go out and buy the crib, buy the blankets, buy the extra clothes we'd need. But there are SO many people who can't do that. And who also can't afford to give their child some of the extras we gave Henry to help him as he continued to develop with delay. At 2.5 he is still significantly delayed in speech and gross motor skills, and he's not alone. I'm looking for donations of crib mobiles, black & white soft blocks, picture cards, and other toys you'll find in the "developmental" category for newborns.
  
• Going Home Items. This is also for the nurses to give away to parents of preemies that they feel need a little extra help going home. This is where the newborn & 0-3 month clothes would be used. socks that are slightly bigger. Baby blankets. Other items that can be sent home with families who need a little extra hand, and who the nurses can help on the sly without them having to ask.
  
• Preemie Diapers. This is also a new goal of mine. Wouldn't it be nice to send some families home with a free pack of ridiculously expensive preemie diapers? Yes it would!

Gifts will be assempled in November for delivery the week of Thanksgiving. The gifts will be non denominational and non holiday specific so that they can be distributed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New years depending on how many families the hospital is helping at the time. The 2nd round of donations - all the "loose" items - will be delivered the week of Christmas.

So far I have solicited exactly zero people, but hey, I'm just starting! I'll be looking for knitters, crafters, card makers, candle makers, store employees with discounts to share, online stores offering discoutns or donated goods, big shopw like Target and Toys R Us to see if they will donate to the cause, every friend and family member I have, and maybe even making an Amazon Wish List to list a bunch of things that people can just buy and mail to me.

Actually... I think the Amazon list will be my 1st priority! I'm so full of good ideas. ;) I'll post a link when I get it sorted out!

Here we go!!! This year is going to be AWESOME, I just know it! I'm aiming for 40 gifts this year, 20 per hospital, but if I get less than that, I'll just distribute what I have between the hospitals.

2009 Preemie Project... and March for Babies

I registered for the annual March for Babies walk, I'd like to raise $200 this year which is right around what I raised last year, slightly less than the year before - but I only have 21 days and those 21 days are going to be packed. We're actually flying to England the day AFTER the walk, and my husband will be out of town for 2 weeks PRIOR to the walk, so I'll sort of be lucky if I'm not insane by the time I step foot in London!

My fundraising page is here: http://www.marchforbabies.com/saranunn

When I get back from England, I'll be launching into the Preemie Project once again. Lat year I reached out and asked for help casually, and at the last minute. I was astonished by how many people wanted to help, but struggled to keep it all organized - this year will be different. Here are a few highlights...

• Donations are going to be logged in a much more organized fashion, that way everyone can get thanks yous, and the recognition they deserve.
• I'm going ask for handmade donations to be started earlier. By beginning in March, that gives crafters 6 full months to either make the few items that they can or to make more than they'd have been able to last year.
• 6 months of planning and receiving donations.
• I'll be asking for corporate donations this year. Getting on that earlier - in those 6 months - hopefully means I'll find some success.
• I'll be widening my internet requests, finding more small internet stores who might be willing to help with advertising, word of mouth, or extra stock.
• Gifts will be donated to 2 hospitals the week before Thanksgiving. There will be enough gifts to last through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Because it covers more than 1 holiday, they will be non-specifically decorated. These bags will all have the same contents.
• For Christmas, a different kind of gift will be given. I'll be giving gifts to the nurses, but the donation of goods will be given in "bulk". Items for the micro-preemies, regular preemie clothes, and some of the items from gift bags that were "left over" and didn't fit into the gift bags.
• I'll be making an effort to get donations of non-preemie infant items as well, specifically developmental toys, diapers, and newborn clothes. Preemies have different needs than full term babies. They need smaller clothes, more medical care, and more developmental encouragement - and a lot of the parents just aren't able to give that little bit extra that a preemie needs. So maybe I can collect some items to send home to those parents that need extra help, at the nurses discretion.

So that's the plan, stan! Nice and.... ambitious. :D

A valentines delivery - and thinking about next year.

Henry went for his final developmental clinic at the hospital last week, and while I was there I delivered another chunk of donations I had received. I figured I'd give them out now instead of waiting until next fall.



These are from Kristen over at thefertileinfertile.blogspot.com/ - preemie hat heaven!!



Lots of little sizes for lots of wonderful little heads.



And here are some more wonderful preemie onesies donated by www.miraclebaby.com



And finally, another complete knitted set from my mother in law. The booty is on my finger. The set includes a tiny hat, tiny button down sweater, tiny booties, and tiny gloves.

I honestly tear up every time I hold one of these sets, they are so itty bitty and I am instantly transported to 2 years ago when Henry wore his.

So yes! The thinking has begun to be thunk about next year. I'm planning on asking for donations earlier this year, especially the handmade stuff so people have more time to get things done. So in the next few weeks I'm going to come up with a big master plan of what I want, how I plan to get it, what kind of help I need... and all of that fun stuff. :)

By the way - Henry's appointment went well. He is at the bottom range of normal on everything except gross motor, and he still scores way delayed on that... but looking at the whole picture we're sure he's fine. He is making progress, just seems to be taking is merry old time.

Everything has been delayed for him - everything except his fine motor skills but you KNOW those were going to be good because that involves eating. Nothing gets in the way of his food! But still... he's in weekly speech therapy and we've signed him up for music and dance classes to help encourage his other delays to hurry up already.

Not a day goes by that I don't consider the ramifications of his prematurity, not a day goes by that I'm not extremely grateful for him.... which keeps this nice little charity project right up there with Important Things for Me To Do. :) See you soon!

Merry Christmas!

Well the end has come, for this year anyway. :) Yesterday when I was preparing the bags for Sherman, and after I had called to see how many babies they had, I knew I had plenty to share with another hospital. So my large original gifts went to Sherman, and I was able to give smaller bags to Saint Joseph.

For Sherman, there were 3 bag types. 1 for the parents, 1 for the nurses, and 1 for 'extra gifts'. That is where the outfits for the 2-4 pounders were... and if I didn't have enough of one thing to put in all the bags I put them in this bag for the nurses to distribute as they saw fit. Here is a pciture of the 'extra gifts' bag.

We delivered two of these to Sherman, one for the sbcu staff and one for labor & delivery staff. I put more savory snacks in there, like chips & salsa and cheesy pretzels, since I figured they'd get a lot of sweet stuff over the holidays.

This is the bag of 'extra gifts' that went to Saint Joseph. I explained my project a bit on the front, since they had never seen me or heard from me ever before. :) While I was there doing my delivery once of the nurses said a woman had just recently delivered preemie twins, so it felt really wonderful knowing one of my gifts was already going to be given out. :)

And these are the bags of gifts for Sherman filled with candles, glass votive holders, clothing, cameras, chocolates, socks and coffee.

These are the little bags that went to Saint Joseph. And even though they are smaller, they had almost the identical loot as the bigger Sherman bags, but the blankets were smaller.

A table full of gifts.

Again. :)

After months of preparation, we actually scrambled to get out the door this morning. Of course that meant I forgot something - namely my Christmas cards I wanted to give out - but those can go in the mail and be a little late. :) But the weather here continues to be INSANE and we rushed around this morning so that the kids were back home safely before the next pummeling began. Even still, I was sloshing and slipping around like nobody's business.

And the light is red don't worry, I wouldn't take a picture whiel I was driving!!

A cold and dishevelled Henry in the elevator up to the fifth floor.

Philip guarded all of the gifts.

And then we came home to undress, re-dress into pajamas, and gorge on Christmas baking.

Thank you a MILLION times over for all of you who helped me with this project! It was worth everything, and I can't wait to start preparing for next year already! My hope is to spread the warm fuzzies even further next year, and as always there will be a ton of different ways for people to get involved if they want. :)

Rather than let this website die for the next few months, I'm also going to chronicle a few other charity projects here that I'm going to do with my boys. For instance, I am planning on growing a cutting garden this summer so that I can make bouquets. Along with my flowers, and those that I can get donated, I'm going to deliver bouquets and a visit to people in the cancer units at the hospitals who don't have flowers in their rooms. When my mom was in the hospital, every time, she was guaranteed to have several bright bouquets to keep her comforted while she wa in there. And when she died my father & I delivered several of her funeral arrangements to the hospital to sit with people who could get an even better use out of them. My mom would have been thrilled. And so I want to take this on as another personal charity cause of my own, and see where the love can take me. If all I can do is give one sick lonely person flowers and a visit, then my mom would be proud.

There are also many times throughout the year that I donate my crafts to people who need cheer for whatever reason. And who knows. Maybe if I've found enough money, time, help, consultation by this time next year my dream of starting my own 501(c)(3) charity will be realized. Who knows!! :)

For now.... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

Twas the night before delivery...

Tomorrow is the big day! And I am up to my eyeballs in BUSY. I got an amazing package of knitted preemie hats today from England, cutest things ever! Lovely colors, different sizes... the tiniest preemie hats fitting an apple quite well. :)




Isn't that adorable and tiny??




I think I mentioned this earlier, but I had to buy new bags for the gifts to Sherman because the blankets didn't fit inside! So here are the new bags labelled with some text about the story behind the gifts along witha link to this blog.




Here are the two thank you cards i made for the nursing staffs. One for the SBCU/NICO nurses, once for maternity nurses. I also bought them big bags of food, but those pictures will be up tomorrow.



Also!!! I had enough donations to actually help another hospital! My main donation is going to Sherman hospital, but right after that I'm driving over to St. Joseph Provena hospital on the other side of town to donate 5 other bags! Their bags are smaller simply because their blankets aren't the larger knit ones, the rest of the contents is pretty much the same.

Here are the bag labels drying on my craft desk, I glitterized them all. :)

I'll have to post the text of the bags tomorrow, right now they are all in my bedroom and I've got sleeping people in there right now. Here is an image of one of the thank you cards I included myself.

And here is the card making process, complete with egg nog off to the far left.

So! Lots of pictures tomorrow and stories about the delivery. If I'm remembering this correctly, here is what everyone's outstanding generosity has put in each of these gift bags:

1 handmade blanket

Pack of handmade thank you notes

2 pairs of socks

1 onesie outfit

1 long sleeved outfit

1 bag of candy

1 bag of coffee

1 glass votive

2 tealight candles

1 Bath & Body Works soap

1 disposable camera w/video service

Also given to the nurses to distribute are hand knit sweaters, knitted caps, extra thank you notes, extra hats and socks, 10 complete outfits for the 2-4 pound babies, extra blankets, a few extra cameras, and extra candy!!

Isn't that amazing!!!!! I promise to wax philosophical when the whole deal is done. But for now, I'm off to bed.