budd & wham Cards for seniors
Final cards sent to retirement homesDear Ladies and Gentlemen,
You are and have been ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I cannot heap enough praise or say enough to you about how each person brought something new and unique to this project which finds me grateful and humbled in your company. It has TRULY been a pleasure to work with this fine group of contributors. YOU have given life to Cards for Seniors and accomplished milestones I never expected. Our initial goal was for 1000 cards to be distributed. Because of your Kindness, Love and Generosity, we have touched the lives of more than 3000 Elders who received them. And let’s remember: the many health care support staff who distributed them to their residents were also uplifted by the warmth this project brought to the facilities where they work. Whenever someone walked into a room where a card is displayed, a new topic of discussion ensued, a new reason to be joy-filled was expressed, another smile was triggered and love was felt. Besides being an update, this missive is to ask one more thing of you. This project has come to an end. If you have cards you intend to leave for us to distribute, we will need them placed in the WHAM Tote on our back porch by Friday, May 15th, 2020 in order for us to process them for delivery in the following week. A simple Thank you seems very inadequate. I truly hope you have been inspired by this project as much as we at WHAM have been. I look forward to meeting each of you at another time when we can sit and chat and tell each other what this adventure meant to us. It is with kind regards I am, Truly yours, Mary Witkowski Mary Witkowski has volunteered to help those who wish to create Cards to cheer up Seniors and others at nursing homes.
Contact her at desertmoonstudio@gmail.com 
|
My friend Budd Gilbert, a WHAM member and veteran, has been fighting cancer for awhile now and he wrote to me saying he had been so depressed a few weeks ago just sitting home waiting for his wife to get home each day. He told me that just when he was feeling the lowest he received a whole bunch of cards in the mail saying how much he mattered. He said that gave him courage and a reason to go on.
“So I was serious about getting cards and crafts to the shut-ins and Connie from WHAM took me serious. She started a campaign to create and then deliver to the elderly in shut-in, no visitors situations. Next we will be asking the parents of the children who are not going to school right now to have their children make cards to give to the seniors. We also will be asking an organization in Mesa for they to do the same. We are asking for donations for supplies but mostly for your time and effort to make the cards. You can drop off your cards at WHAM, WHAM is Closed right now, but there is a box on the back patio that says Seniors Cards, please deposit there. A couple of truths involved here: Focusing on serving others is absolutely the best therapy to take the focus off our problems.” Wrote Budd Gilbert on FB 3/17/2020. Because of his inspiring story I felt like we all need to do something during these times of Coronavirus that would bring us together and feel like we were doing something. I started a CARDS FOR SENIORS campaign on March 17, 2020 where only (6 – 8 people at a time gather) at WHAM to make uplifting cards to be delivered to senior residents in our communities. Even though WHAM’s doors are closed to the public you can drop off your cards at WHAM’s back Patio in a Box that says “CARDS FOR SENIORS”. We plan to deliver to the senior residents in a bundle that says these cards have been isolated for 48 hours, therefore, if they were infected, the virus dies on paper and cardboard in 24 hrs. These cards will be disinfected and placed in bags. This is a perfect thing to get your kids that are out of school doing. They will understand how important it is to give to their communities, care about others around them, and have fun doing something constructive. Please help and make someone’s day a little brighter. ** according to a new study from National Institutes of Health, CDC, UCLA and Princeton University scientists in The New England Journal of Medicine. The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel. Please contact Budd or Connie if you want to be involved. Budd: gilbert.budd@gmail.com Connie: Connie.whitlock@wham-art.org |