I have been doing a bit of thinking about how I could go about this. We are moving next week out into the middle of nowhere, so I will be doing this to co-incide with Samara's appointments at the two hospitals.
I am going to approach the Starlight Foundation (once I know I have enough support to keep this up as I can't do it on my own) and see if they would mind passing on the gifts to the children, as they meet children on every ward, and I didn't want to limit it to oncology. This would also remove any burden from the hospital staff in trying to keep track of it all. I think they already have enough to contend with! LOL
If I get enough support and it becomes popular, I would love to find people in other areas to do the same thing for their local childrens hospitals. But for now, it's just Brisbane (although feel free to send stuff from anywhere!!)
Also, if you would like to help, but don't have the time etc, I will accept donations of tulle, non-roll elastic, crochet-style headbands (available at Terry White and some of the discount type stores), ribbons, and fabrics suitable for making hero capes for the boys. Alternately gift cards for Spotlight or Lincraft stores could be used for buying fabric. If I get enough support, I will also approach some stores to see if they will donate or discount some fabrics for us, so maybe we could all meet somewhere and go do a bulk buy.
There are several free patterns out there on the internet for tutus and for hero capes. I would advise doing a google search, as it would be nice to get some variety going. Also, some styles may suit some people's budgets, sewing abilities, likes and dislikes, etc better.
If you want my no-sew directions, let me know. These are the ones I make to sell, so please only use these directions for this charity.
At this point, I will not be doing anything to register as an official charity. The paper work isn't really worth it for something so small scale that might not even take off. If we got to the point of doing this country wide on a regular basis, I would reconsider this option.
And, I think that's about it for now. If you would like to help out in some way, please contact me. When Samara was born, we spent 4 months at Ronald MacDonald House. We saw a lot of very sick kids. My heart would break for them, and I really wanted to do something for them. If this can put a smile on a childs face, it would mean the world to me, and more importantly their families.
And those of you with children blessed with an extra chromosome, I am sure you know about the statistics for our kids with the likes of leukemia. I think it sits in the back of all of our minds as something we never want to face. Well, these families are facing it and living with it every day. If you are at all able, please help me to bring a little bit of cheer into their lives.
Sorry for all the grovelling. It is just I am feeling very passionate about this right now, and getting it off the ground is the first hurdle. If I don't get support at this stage, the whole idea is likely to fizzle out. But if we can get it up and running, then we are more likely to be able to expand and share the love around!
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