And....

And, I got my braces off last month!!! A great summer, indeed!

ONE CRAZY SUMMER

It has been such a busy summer in our family, but the Nightingale Dolls work has continued. I can't get over how many people want to help sew, stuff, spread the word, etc. We had two scout troops help stuff dolls and sew necks, we had two stake girls camps complete 350 dolls (amazing!!!!), we had neighbors and family do work parties.... it just goes on and on. I have sewed kits for and helped with a grand total of 726 dolls since we started just 17 short months ago! I am currently finishing a batch of 75 that will go up to the Christmas Box House in Salt Lake. That is a children's placement shelter. I'll let you know how it goes.....

Grateful

Grateful. It is the word that best fits how I am feeling. In the past couple of months, I've had Kevin Simister from Hawkins, Cloward and Simister in Orem give me some great advice and also help with a very, very generous donation to Nightingale Dolls. It will go towards fabric, thread, pens, printer ink and paper. I've had two different Stake Girls Camps take a total of 350 (that's right!) doll kits. It was a lot to sew, but they will finish them and deliver them in the Myton and Springville areas. How cool is all of this? I even had a teacher from South Jordan contact me - she took 20 doll kits to do on her own time. My G'ma in California had a service party and completed 27 dolls. Grateful. I think our total dolls (once these kits are all completed) will be somewhere around 650. IN JUST OVER ONE YEAR! Thank you.

Good Things Coming...

Want to hear some FABULOUS news? I have been busy, busy sewing 350 doll kits for two seperate stake girls camps this summer. One is out of Myton Utah and the other is out of Springville. It has been crazy getting so many kits done in just a few weeks, but once they are all finished our total tally of completed dolls will be over 600! That rocks!

A Ton of Fun

This fantastic picture was sent by Boy Scout Troop 1192 - here Andrew is working on some dolls with his siter, Amber. Today three hard working, service minded scouts from that troop will deliver a total of 30 dolls to the American Fork Hospital. Thank you Andrew, Sam and Jared (and Amber) for your help. You rock!

Girls, Girls, Girls...

I was going through a bag of recently finished Nightingale Dolls when I realized that they were all girls. While I am all for girl power, we really try to do half girl/half boy dolls in our deliveries. After all, little boys need the love, too! I guess I need to get cracking on some boy dolls to even the score.

Also, a great idea came to us from the Children's Justice Center...they suggested using some brown material for some of the faces to better reflect the diversity in the community. That was an excellent idea and we will definately add that into our doll kits.

A Good Reminder....

I received a fantastic letter from the YWCA in today's mail (I delivered 40 dolls to them and their Children's Justice Center this month). It reads:

Dear Ms. Hilmo,

Thank you for such a thoughtful donation of Nightingale Dolls.

We have many children in our shelter that suffer from domestic abuse who are unable to verbally express their pain. Your donation will help them move through the painful processing one step at a time.

Regards,

Carol J. Shifflett
YWCA Volunteer Coordinator


***it was a good reminder of why we are doing what we are doing. Thanks, YWCA, for the opportunity.

2007 Final Tally

I want to start by shouting out a big THANK YOU to everyone who jumped in and helped with Nightingale Dolls this past year. Here's where our efforts went:

REPORT:

Primary Children's Medical Center - 40 dolls
Salt Lake Rescue Haven - 50 dolls
Ridgecrest California Hospital - 10 dolls
Boy scouts delivered - 10 dolls
American Fork IHC Hospital - 45 dolls
Dove Womens Shelter, St George Utah - 40 dolls
Utah Valley Regional Medical Center- 38 dolls

TOTAL DOLLS COMPLETED AND DELIVERED FOR 2007 = 233!!!! And, remember that we didn't even start until late spring!