Summer Service

We drove to Heber, Utah to deliver doll kits to a Youth Summer Camp (Manilla 1st Ward). I had presewn 30 doll kits for the service activity. The camp was located up in the mountains and it was a beautiful day. The view was spectacular and we were so high up it felt like you could reach up and touch the soft white clouds that floated through a sunny blue sky. What was even better was the cheerfulness of these teens and how they sacrificed their time to help stuff and stitch these dolls, which will be delivered by them to a hospital. Thank you for your help!

Just Black Markers!!!

I heard today from Bob Weil, the owner of the company that sells the brand "Just Black Markers". They are black, washable markers. He has so, so, so generously offered to donate 200 black markers for dolls! Isn't that amazing? I can't get over how kind people are! I am super excited!! If anyone out there needs black markers, please support this amazing company. You can find them at: www.blackmarkers.com .
It is a good day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Working Away!

Although I have been quiet on this blog the last few weeks, I have still been working away on this project! I am trying to see if I can get a discount of any kind on black washable markers for the dolls. It is not ideal to have color markers (so the dolls face ends up being purple or pink or something). Black would work much better but they are not easy to find! I have had help locating one company and sent a query for a possible discount. I hope, hope, hope it works out!

Also, I have a new order fr 80 dolls from a fantastic group in Pleasant Grove. They are going to have a 'Service Saturday' in April. I have been cutting, sewing and turning the dolls....and am a little over half way done w/ the order. I will supply the pre sewn dolls, markers and poems and also talk about the dolls, what they are used for in therapy situations and how we can recognize and respond to abuse issues in our own neighborhoods. The education is such an important part of this program. They will provide the willing hearts, needles and thread and stuffing.

If anyone out there spying on this service blog is interested in helping then just leave a comment below w/ your e mail and contact info. I never post the comments (they are always moderated and deleted) so your info won't actually go out over the web. Anyway, spread the word!

The Flu Strikes!!!!

We have been working towards an order of 100 dolls that I was hoping to have delivered before the Christmas holiday. The AMAZING Parents Organization at American Heritage School in American Fork helped with sewing heads, hair and stuffing and my family has been working with me to get this order in line as well. And then.....

the flu.

It went through our family one by one taking its sweet time and messing up everyone's schedule for the last THREE WEEKS!!!!

But, now we are all breathing well, fever free and full of energy. The order will go out late but we hope to get it out soon. I plan on taking some to the Christmas Box House in SLC and some to the Childrens Justice Center.

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!

Deck the Halls with lots of Dolls....

A great Christmas present to children in need and Nightingale Dolls was given by the fantastic ladies in the American Fork 19th Ward of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! I prepared the doll kits back in late October and they spent their pre holiday season sewing, stuffing and making 100 DOLLS!!! This is an amazing help and made it possible for us to reach our goal for this year's dolls. Here is a picture of me picking up the dolls from Gloria Jensen who helped head up the service project. Thank you so much AF 19th Ward! You rock!

Check back here next week for an end of the year accounting of all that Nightingale Dolls has accomplished and delivered this year. We couldn't have done it without so many helping hands and generous hearts!

Plugging Away....

The good work continues. Just a couple weeks ago, I put together doll kits for 100 dolls - that includes cutting out all the bodies, heads, etc and organization - and some FABULOUS women in American Fork are going to have a service party. Their goal was twenty women with five dolls each - incredible. I'll post pictures and more information once the work is done.

Also, I've been sewing lots of necks and hair recently, trying to finish up some partly finished dolls from previous service parties. I can't wait to sit down at the end of this year and count up all the dolls we've made. I say 'we've' because I'm forever amazed at the willing hands who have stepped up to help. My goal is 1,000 dolls over the next five years (by the time I graduate high school). That would be a minimum of 200 dolls per year. I think we'll easily meet those goals. Who knows, maybe our final count will be over 1,000. Wouldn't that be awesome?!?!?!?!

My livingroom is piled high with half sewn dolls, rolls of yarn, bags of stuffing. It is a mess, but it is really cool.

A Delivery and a Service Friend

Some cool updates to report. First, I was able to make a delivery to the Dove Women's Shelter in St. George, Utah this past weekend. I delivered thirty dolls and hope to be able to send some more their way soon. Also, a big welcome to Blake Beaton from Rigdgecrest CA who made ten Nightingale Dolls as part of his Points Of Light service project. That's awesome - thanks Blake!!!! Blake's mom and my mom went to college together, but I haven't seen him since I was around five! It was neat to have an old family friend join our project. Above is a pic of me making the St. George delivery and a pic of Blake busy at work.

Thank You, Zions Bank!

Some great news to report today! Zions Bank has awarded Nightingale Dolls a grant to help pay for supplies. I got to go to their 'Smart Women, Smart Money' conference in Salt Lake today and was honored to be a grant recipient. I met some really interesting women who have their own businesses and are helping others in our community. It was great to meet these incredible people and I am so grateful for the support. Plus, there were some booths and I got free chapstick!

On the home front, we have had some youth groups all the way from California contact me and say that they want to arrange a Nightingale Dolls Service Party. Awesome!!

Pictures...

I can't figure out how to make these pics look more organized, but you get the idea. Above is from our service party tonight - sewing hair and stuffing dolls. The great volunteers were the Highland 4th Ward Young Women group. Didn't they do a great job? I pre-sewed all of the doll bodies and heads and also pre sewed the hair. It made it go a bit faster tonight as we just had to stuff and then sew on necks and hair by hand. I think everyone had a good time.

The next picture in line is a variety of dolls. Finally, you can see a finished boy and girl doll. I think they are super cute.

Gotta go. It's getting late and I have school tomorrow.

Many Hands...

We recently had a youth service party in my neighborhood. About 60 (ish) children came together on a Saturday morning and stuffed dolls! Some of their parents even helped me prepare for the service party by sewing some of the dolls beforehand. They worked for only one hour and got almost 55 dolls stuffed. Tomorrow I am organizing another youth service party with some older youth (ages 12+) who will work on sewing the hair on those dolls.

Here is a picture of me delivering some finished dolls to American Fork Hospital. Did you know that if your youth group does a 'Nightingale Doll Service Party' then you can be the ones to make the delivery? We even provide the patterns and sewing directions - and in most cases can provide some or all of the materials! Really, it doesn't have to be a youth group that hosts a service party. Maybe your family would like to make a committment of 10 dolls or maybe there are some adults out there who would like to come together on this important project. Think about it and let me know. Oops, I'm late for school....

Welcome!

Welcome! I have started this blog with the hope of reaching out to other youth who are interested in serving others. I want this blog to:

1. Inform others about Nightingale Dolls - who we are, what we do and who is helping

and

2. Inspire others to join in our cause!

We welcome groups of all ages to participate. We are located along the beautiful Wasatch Mountains in Utah and can provide instruction, patterns and even materials!

By way of background, I began this venture last March (07) after completing a 'Master Project' in my 7th grade class about Florence Nightingale. She was amazing! At one point, she met a very sick child in a hospital. The child was alone and afraid. Florence Nightingale didn't have a lot of resources, but she made a quick, cloth doll for this child. I was so moved by this simple act and decided to make my own dolls. I set a goal of 1,000 dolls and went online to research patterns. After settling on a basic, pancake doll pattern I came up with the idea to leave the face of the doll blank and send it with a washable marker. I wrote this poem that goes with the doll and marker:

A doll for you from a secret place
take the marker and draw a face
happy, sad, whatever you feel
then wash it -- change it, as you heal

With love from
A child who cares

Well, I started making dolls. I spent most of this past summer planning, cutting, sewing and delivering dolls. Then other youth started saying that they wanted to help me! How exciting! It is soooo much better to have many hands working on a project like this, so I came up with a pattern and instruction booklet. (I need to figure out how to link to those documents)

This is a new adventure for me. Please be patient - bear with me as I figure out how to blog, how to respond, how to post pictures and instructions....yada, yada, yada. I am only 13!!!!!!