The time is coming!

Once again we will be collecting many items to help out our local Children's hospital Kapi'olani. There are 3 ways you can help. I'm sending out lots of fancy new cards to try and make this the biggest collection yet.

First, we are in need of Preemie and Newborn clothing, both brand new and gently used. Sleepers especially, those with snap closures, are the best. If you love to sew there is also a pattern for a preemie sleep sack that takes all of about 10 minutes to sew but sewing on the snaps takes a little more time and we'd love to have you help make some of those as well.

Second, the Party boxes are in desperate shape. There is not much left in any of them so we can pretty much begin again. Themed party plates (unopened) an party favors, small toys that a child could play with in their bed, art projects or make-up samples or small sized items. Anything for a child aged 1 year through 18. It's a bit tricky for the older kids but I'm sure you are all creative enough to make it work.

Third, cash. If you want to give but you just don't know how or what to send please use the paypal donate button on this site to give a cash donation and we will use it to fill in any gaps as drop off day approaches.

Remember that any donations are tax deductable so if you want to squeeze a final gift into this calendar year please do. Danya's gift is something that really makes a difference in the lives of these famililes, and I want it to continue to grow and please tell others about what we do. It's been a wonderful adventure and I can't wait to see how we can bless the hospital this year.

Etsy Store

I now have an etsy store where I sell all the stuff I make. Sewing has always been my therapy and I love it, but when I ran out of purposes to sew I would get really out of sorts, so I decided to do all the fun sewing I love so much and make a little money for me and a little money for Danya's gift. It is my commitment to donate at least 5% of every sale to Danya's gift. Please stop by and see if you need anything that will also benefit the sick Keiki on O'ahu.

Cards, cards, and more cards!

Our contact and friend in the NICU asked us to make some cards for the nurses to use to mark milestones and become special keepsakes for the families. Like a card for the first feeding, or just growing and meeting those pound milestones. So we teamed up with MOMS club WPA to make lots of cards for them.

As of this moment we have made 139 cards! It's been a fun way to work and play together, plus we get to use up those extra baby scrapbook supplies we didn't need taking up space in our paper piles. We hope that some of the families recieving the cards will visit our site and perhaps choose to join one of our projects. We just love to be able to help and give back to the hospital, but mostly to the families who really need a little encouragement, as we well know.

Drop off Day

Sometimes even when you try to be early like I always do, things have a way of getting in your way. There is always traffic on the H1 but on drop off day it didn't lighten- up like it usually does. It was bumper to bumper almos the whole way to the hospital. Yikes! But then after we got to Kapiolani the adventure and fun began.

We don't own a wagon so we improvised using our bike trailer. The good part is that with the tall sides of the trailer the boxes didn't tip over. It was quite a stack!  We got inside and after much appologizing about being late, we dropped off the Celebration boxes first. The ladies in the patient services play room were so excited to get the boxes. They've been using more generic plates than anything real kid, and they were so glad to be able to personalize it a little bit. They don't have a budget for these kinds of extras and they were so grateful for it. Danya had so much fun too. Our contact at the hospital even took us to look through the glass at the babies, which Danya is just in awe of since coming home from Minnesota and meeting her cousins. It's was an adventure. Then we met with the head nurse from the NICU to drop off all the little outfits that were made and bought. We also brought them the digital scrapbooked name cards for the warmers. The nurses are so grateful for these little things. Sometimes it's the little things that mean the most to families and the staff. Very soon I will be posting the pattern for the little sleep sacks I made for the teeny NICU babies, The nurses were thrilled with them as they are perfect for sick little ones. I still have about 6 sitting in my sewing basket that need snaps sewn on and then they will make a special trip to the hospital. It's been such a blessing to these families that you all are willing to donate and bless them in this way. It might seem small and insignificant, but it's often the littlest things that ignite the most hope. Thank You all for your support and help in making this Gift a success.

Drop off Date

We've set a drop off date of next Tuesday the 25th. We are still in need of some items to finish up the birthday boxes, please visit the photo site and see what you can give, or if you want please donate using our paypal button on the right side of this page so that I can run and finish off the boxes. Every little bit helps. Thank You all so much!

Looking for a little inspiration

So you might be wondering what is really needed or what we have so far. Well follow this link and see photos of everything we have so far, and gain inspiration for what you can add to the donation.
http://valerafamilyalbums.shutterfly.com/danyasgift

Another Box Arrived!

We received another box from a friend of mine, Krysia, who is a Mary Kay consultant. These makeup samples are perfect for these kids, as they can do a mini make over for their celebration and not share germs and what not with others.  Krysia even gave some special samples, gift certificates and other fun items for the Mom, Auntie, or Tutu who needs a little encouragement in the process! I'm so excited. Thank You it's perfect!

More donations have arrived!

There is not much more satisfying than knowing that what you are doing is catching on and being embraced by others. A big thank you to Annemarie and Lola Maylene for your gifts toward the Celebration boxes. They are getting very full. I think it's time to pick up a few more boxes and fill them too.
Today the mailman came and much to my delight he brought a box. This box was full to the brim with gently used preemie and newborn sleepers and onesies. Which is always a blessing but the best and most amazing part is that this box was from another NICU graduate and his family. A NICU graduate who recieved one of the sleepers you all so generously donated. Thank you Jayden! We're so glad to meet you and we're excited that you are growing soo fast! Congratulations!

Celebration Box Update

A big thank you to Wendy, Amy, and Lori! Because of their generous donations and some things I've found cheap we are getting closer to having completed our boxes. These are the items we are still looking for:

"Cars" hats

toddler friendly animal toys or zoo themed items

fingernail polish

We also have a box of misc. party items and decorations, mixed with a grab bag of gifts for the kids. There is still time to get in on the giving. I'm waiting for a box from the mainland that has a bunch of Mary Kay samples for our "Day at the spa" box for older girls.

Here is an overview of the box themes we have right now.
>> for toddlers: it's a gender neutral Animal / Zoo box
>> For younger girls: A Princess box
>> for younger boys: A Cars box
>> for older girls: "a day at the spa" box
>> for older boys: A sports box

Please feel free to add things to any of the box ideas or like I said before if you want to do one of your own please do! I'm still waiting on that mainland box so like I said it might not be until closer to the end of the month that I drop it all off.

Easter Collection For Kapiolani

Thank you for visiting Danya's Gift site. We are once again collecting for a donation to the sick children and babies of Kapiolani Hospital. There are several ways to give.

First to the babies:
We are collecting Sleepers, Onesies, socks, and hats in the preemie or newborn size. There are also several patterns along the right side of the site if you want to sew something special. For more information click here.

Now for all the rest of the keiki:
The hospital tries to throw a party for birthdays and other celebratory moments like the last chemo treatment. Because it's hard to make sure that every child gets a personalized party we are putting together party boxes. To find out guidelines and needs click here.

We are grateful for every gift you are able to share with us. Sometime when your child is ill these are the little things that mean soo much.

Project Celebration Boxes!

As I have been reorganizing around the house I was trying to find a place to store the party decorations from Danya's birthday party. What do you do with these things?! When we went to drop off Danya's gift last fall, we talked to a patient rep who said that they often throw parties for the kids for their birthdays and for final Chemo and many other moments that deserve something special. So I started thinking and I wrote an email to the representative to find out what their needs were. She said that often they can't give the kids a real personalized party because they don't have a lot of options on hand. Upon reading her e-mail I really felt like God was confirming and encouraging me to mobilize the troops and do this thing. Our MOPS group started brainstorming ideas today. Our plan is to take plastic shoe boxes and put together themed party items so that when they need to throw a party they will take the items they need and then put the decorations and such back in and us it for the next one. We'll laminate banners and such so that they can be cleaned and used over and over again.

There are some No Nos to keep in mind.

NO LATEX

NOTHING EDIBLE

ALL NAPKINS AND PLATES MUST BE NEW AND SEALED (small plates only please)

Ideas of what to put in the boxes:

Bubbles

Party Blowers

Plastic Clapping hands

Banners

Cars

Hats

Paper Streamers

Crafty items

Table Cloth

Stickers

These are the themes we are going to start with, If you want to put together a whole box choose your own theme and go ahead!

* Princess Box

* Thomas

* Sesame Street

* Music Theme

* A day at the Spa

* Animals / Zoo Theme

* Super Heros (any and all)

* Cheetah Girls / Hannah Montana

The Snap-N-Style dolls I mentioned before will be going in with this gift. Can't wait to see what we can do when we work together!

Photos I promised

Okay so a long time ago I promised some of the photos from our drop off a few months ago. Well here they are. It was quite a morning, you can read more about it here. Thanks to Mark (at least I think that is how he spells it) who works over at Kapiolani for taking these photos.

Here we are outside of the NICU doors waiting for the head nurse to come and welcome us in. Danya was being a bit shy, but she really did do pretty well.

Here we are posing with a couple of the nurses in the NICU with all the stuff piled in the wagon.

Today I ran to Walmart during Danya's nap, and just because it had AC and I was alone (John was home) I decided to wonder through the clearance toys (Christmas leftovers). I spotted a purple box and I knew right away that it was the snap n style dolls that we love. If you remember we brought one to a very sick little girl on the day of our drop off. The hospital staff member who was with us loved it too because it could be cleaned up so easily. So naturally I needed to see how much they were clearanced for, because if you know Walmart clearance like I do they are very rarely really clearanced, usually like 20% but they were 70% off, only 5.98 a doll.

Since I didn't have Danya with and I could wait in lines I went to the customer service center to talk about if they could donate them, never hurts to ask right? Well the manager who handles that, as you can imagine is a M-F employee so I decided to just buy them and see if anyone else would like to join me in this gift to sick toddlers, and kids. As you can see we've added a donate button on the side of our blog, and that money will go directly to Danya's gift project, or if you can spare even a dollar and just mail it that is great too. The store only had 8 and I took them all. I can't wait to give this small gift to the kids at the hospital.