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.