Brookie Pookie Lemon Cookie

2/25/09

Today my grandma, mom and I packed most of our blankets in the back of our truck. Leaving 1/3 of our blankets behind to be given away to another charity, we headed to UNM Children's Hospital downtown.

On the way over we turned on the radio to 100.3 The Peak. They are at the hospital hosting the annual UNM Children's Hospital Radiothon. It so happens as we were driving down they were asking for blankets for the 103 children staying there. They wanted every child to have a warm blanket that evening. How coincidental was that? They were on the air and gave a blanket to a little girl and were talking about how happy it made her. This got us very excited! 

Here is a page off their website where they are asking for blankets for each child staying at the hospital that evening ............ this felt like a sign that it was truly meant to be!

http://www.1003thepeak.com/pages/jackietonyanddonnie.html

Donnie wants EACH child that has to stay here tonight to get one of these blankets to sleep with. You can become a Miracle Maker by calling 272-1003

We arrived and each took a stack of blankets.

In the hospital lobby .....................

When we got off the elevator we were greeting with over a dozen people taking phone donations for the hospital. A few of them started clapping as soon as they saw us with our blankets!

Julia Grimes, director of UNM Children's Hospital was there to greet us. She took us over to Jackie, Tony, and Donnie who were broadcasting live in the lobby of the 6th floor. Julia introduced me and they asked to know more about my project. I showed them my album of postcards, a few of the blankets and they read one of the cards that was attached to the blanket.  

Tony went online too look at my blog. He saw the maps, and all the completed blankets. Jackie asked me how I came to get the almost 1500 squares and how the blankets were made in a little over a month. We told her how quickly helping hands from all over the world gave their time and creativity when I reached out.

Here Jackie is looking at my album full of postcards and letters I received along with the squares.

Julia toured us through the Children's Child Life Area. Here we are looking in the doors of the activities room. It had a kitchen and all the toys you could imagine. It had everything to be creative, using your imagination to make creations. They use things you can find in your house everyday. The reason for this is they want parents to realize you do not have to go to the toy store and spend hundreds of dollars on kits, you can find most of what you need to be creative in your own kitchen!

This room was amazing. We felt we were on a cruise ship! See the video on the floor showing fish swimming amongst corral. This room is dedicated to Jeff Apodaca. Mr. Apodaca had childhood cancer and survived. He raised money to build this room. It is open in the day for children to read, play games and have fun. They have a chess night, an art night and fun events planned in this room for children staying at UNM Children's Hospital.

This is the library for adults to read and learn about medical conditions, treatments, cures and everything they need to know in laymen's terms.

This suite was build by Ronald McDonald Home. This is for parents of the children staying at UNM Children's Hospital. Here they can feel like they can get away for a short while from their worries and clear their head. There is a kitchen, computers, library and if they have kids not staying at the hospital, there is a little room with toys and books.

It was a fun and exciting day. Here is a webpage from the peak, they linked my blog on their website! 

http://www.1003thepeak.com/pages/RadioThon.html

You can also click on 

"Click here to check out pics from Radiothon 2009"

I am in photos #: 37,38 and 39.

http://1003thepeak.com/cc-common/gallery/display.html?album_id=166132

Here I copied part of their webpage about the radiothon that I am in .............

Radiothon 2009

Wednesday 02-25-2009 4:20pm MT

Hey all, it's Jackie, Tony, and Donnie!

Radiothon 2009 is here and we're broadcasting live from the 6th floor of the UNM Children's Hospital from 6am to 6pm the next three days.

Call 272-1003 or statewide 1-866-811-1003 to become a "Miracle Maker".  When you become a Miracle Maker,  you'll agree to send the hospital $15 a month until you tell them stop.

Click Here to check out pics from Radiothon 2009, we'll keep adding pics throughout Radiothon

Riley stopped by Radiothon with her school project in "Paying it Forward"....read all about it at her website, http://thehookiepookie.typepad.com/

GREAT JOB RILEY!

Whew! This was a fast paced project! It was very gratifying! As I said before, I am sad to see it come to an end. 

On the way home they were talking about my project on air and said my blankets were the majority of the blankets they received. This made me feel good.

2/25/09 • Blankets are ready to go!

Today my mom and I were busy tying ribbon around 24 of the 34 completed blankets. Tomorrow they will be given to UNM Children's Hospital. Julia Grimes, director of UNM Children's Hospital Child Life Program told us I will not be able to meet with the children to personally hand them their blanket as it is against hospital policy. However she will give me a tour through the facility. 

Each blanket is tied with a pretty ribbon, purple for girls and yellow for boys. I cannot believe the day has come to hand out all these beautiful and special blankets. As we were tying the ribbon we could remember where most of the squares came from. 

We talked about how amazing it is that in a little over a month we asked for and received almost 1500 squares from all over the world! In less than a month 34 blankets were assembled, borders put around them and they were ready to be given out. There were so many blankets I could call my favorite and I have grown attached to them. I hope these blankets bring a child as much joy as they have brought me. 

This project made me realize even though most of what everyone hears is the bad in this world, there are clearly so much more good as I have easily found people eager to give their time and energy to help a stranger. I didn't have to look hard or ask around for a long time. Within a week I had almost a hundred people from all over working on squares. Within three weeks I had two hundred people making squares, emailing me ideas for my project and posting nice conversations to one another on my online group page. 

My family and a friend spent days and days assembling blankets without complaining. They enjoyed doing good for others even if it meant working hours and hours to do so. Everyone is always so busy however they all made time to help. Oh yeah, they do not know how to knit or crochet however now they appreciate all the work that goes into making something pretty, especially my Aunt Jeannine who had to weave in ends for one blanket. It took her weeks and weeks so she was so excited when it was all done.

Handwritten notecards were attached to each blanket. The girls received a card with three handmade dolls knitting on the front. The boys will receive notecards with cute sheep in sweaters attached to a ball of yarn. 

Each notecard I wrote a short letter to let them know how their blanket came to be. I also listed the many different cities where the blankets were made.

Well, I am sad it is all ending. It was exciting to go to my mailbox and get so many packages in the mail from all around the world. I am happy we were able to do right by everyone who participated and make beautiful blankets from their squares. We still have 108 squares waiting to be made into two blankets. There are still some squares arriving and then those two blankets will be complete.

Paying It Forward by Reiley Kelly

For my school project I was asked to come up with a way to "Pay it Forward" by doing random acts of kindness for others. I enjoy knitting and crocheting so I decided to reach out to fellow knitters and crocheters to help give the gift of warm blankets to children who need them the most. I believe that a seriously ill or abused child can be greatly comforted by a security blanket.

My mom is member of Ravelry.com, a "place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools, and pattern information, and look to others for ideas and inspiration." I created a group in Ravelry and posted information about my project asking fellow knitters and crochets for help by knitting or crocheting a 6"x6" square and send them in. I will then assemble blankets to give to children who need comfort most. 

I've had my group called "Paying it Forward" up in Ravelry for over a week now and have over 160 members! Everyday I come home from school and membership keeps growing! I receive emails everyday and respond to them all. I am enjoying reading all the posts from everyone discussing my project. I have received many helpful suggestions and have enjoyed reading all the words of encouragement. Some people write to tell me they are telling all their friends about my project, some people are sending already assembled blankets and some are letting me know how many squares they will be sending in. My mom called my Grandma, my Aunt Jeannine, my Aunt Diane and my new Aunt Lindsey to ask them if they can help me assemble all these blankets!

I am in contact with a representative from Rachel's Courtyard Child Life Program at Presbyterian Hospital who help seriously ill children or children recovering from surgery. They range in age from infant to 18 years. Some people are emailing me to tell me about Afaghans for Afghans and Project Linus which are very important charities to consider as well. 

I am starting this blog to keep all the kind people who took the time to make squares for me so thy may be updated on my project. 

I named my webblog after my 2 year old sister, Brooke. We call her Brookie Pookie Lemon Cookie because sometimes she's sweet and sometimes she's sour. My dad calls her The Hookie Pookie because she is the only kid he knows that needs a "The" in front of her name - she's that crazy and only Brooke can pull off having a "The" in front of her name. 

I plan on writing a card and attaching it to every blanket with information about where all the blanket blocks came from. The child or parent will recognize how special their blanket is and how easy it is to reach out and find so many people who care.