The Heart-2-Heart Project

This mornings coffee had me surfing quilting web rings and I came across this site. So I have stopped in my tracks to share it with all of you. I wish I had known about it earlier. For those of you that are inspired by this and can find some time please participate. Lets show our support for our military.

HEART-2-HEART POSTCARD PROJECT VALENTINES FOR WOUNDED SOLDIERS

Receive-by Deadline: Wednesday, February 7, 2007. To recognize and encourage the many American servicemen and women who have been wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have created the Heart-2-Heart postcard project. Our goal is to send artist-made postcards as Valentines to our military wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, where all branches of the armed forces are treated. A quilt artist from the DC area has generously volunteered to deliver the cards directly to Walter Reed for distribution to the wounded—thanks!

It’s very easy to participate in the Heart-2-Heart project!

1. There is no cost to participate.

2. Make 4”x6” fiberart postcards, suitable for framing—one, two or as many as you can.

3. Write some “kind words” on the back to encourage your recipient or just to say ‘thanks’ from a grateful nation for their service and their sacrifice.

4. Sign them with your initials or your first name only, along with your city and state (and country if you are outside the U.S.). Note: using your full name is not recommended.

5. Mail them to us (one or more in the same envelope) to arrive in Houston no later than February 7, 2007. To keep each postcard clean and fresh, please do not mail the postcard itself directly through the mails without putting it in an envelope.

6. We’ll collect them in Houston and send them on to our kind-hearted artist-volunteer who will then deliver them to Walter Reed, where they will be given to the wounded. If we receive more postcards than Walter Reed needs, we’ve got volunteers standing by to deliver them to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where most of the burn victims are sent, and to the huge Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.

And then, thanks to all of you and your art, wounded soldiers, sailors, and Marines will learn that someone out there who doesn’t even know them still cares about them, appreciates their sacrifices, and wishes them well. That’s sure to lift the heart of every recipient and encourage him or her through the rigors of recovery and rehabilitation. What a BIG accomplishment for such a LITTLE work of art!

Postcard Guidelines:

Avoid religious symbolism or messages since the wounded are of many faiths, and it would be impractical, if not impossible, for the volunteers to match religions.

It is not necessary to use any kind of Valentine theme; your postcard may depict anything or be completely abstract.

Avoid making political statements since your political beliefs may not be the same as those of your recipient.d. Since these will be hand-delivered and will not have to go through the mails as postcards, they can be heavily embellished without concern for their safety. Heavy embellishment or no embellishment—this is entirely your choice. All types of artist-made fiberarts postcards will be welcome in this project.

A gentleman who spent time in military hospitals several years ago has offered several suggestions for subject matter for the Heart-2-Heart project.* Red, white, and/or blue, hearts, stars, Americana--anything that celebrates or reflects America is good.* Don't use too much gold and silver braid as soldiers equate that with officers.* Don't send anything political or religious. He specifically said to avoid peace signs or doves.* Avoid reminders of explosions, rockets, battles, fighting or war...nothing gloomy.* He says the design is less important than that you let the wounded servicepeople know that you are grateful for and appreciative of the job they did and the sacrifices they made (and will continue to make) for our freedom. "Thank for your service" or words to that effect written on the back is the most meaningful part of the design. We want the postcards to be tangible expressions of affection, concern, and appreciation.

A quilter who is a former pastor has added this insight: "The cards you contribute can be literally life-giving. Because of the nature of hospitals, the boredom is unimaginable. After a while, you lose touch with normalcy and run out of anything to talk about that isn't medically related. So the contributions you make to Heart-2-Heart have a double benefit. Not only is there the immediate pleasure they give, but there's the very real and concrete pleasure of being able to ENGAGE with family and friends and medical staff as you show people what you got or describe it to them over the phone."She also added this comment: "A friend who was in a Japanese internment camp in China during World War II told me she had a breakdown of sorts when she was repatriated to the U.S. Her family owned a cabin in the North Carolina mountains, and she went there and stayed for months. 'The mountains healed me,' she said. We can't take our wounded soldiers to the mountains, but what about sending the outside in to them in the form of postcards? Leaves, flowers, birds, butterflies, bugs, trees, horses, scenic vistas...perhaps these will have the same healing effects."

Check out these links! For 18 pages of pictures of postcards from the now-completed FFAC project, click here. To learn how to make a fiberarts postcard, click here!

Your postcards should be sent to arrive no later than Wednesday, February 7, 2007, to this address:

Heart-2-Heart Projectc/o Quilts, Inc.

7660 Woodway, Suite 550

Houston, Texas 77063

Attention: Amanda

We’d love to get HUNDREDS of these postcards to distribute to our wounded soldiers, both men and women, so we hope to hear from lots of you, the quilt and textile artists of the world! Please feel free to email the link to this page to all your friends who might be interested in participating, too. This is an outgrowth of the hugely successful Fiberarts For A Cause (FFAC) postcard project that raised more than $120,000 for the American Cancer Society.

The Heart-2-Heart project is not a fundraiser—it is a project to raise people’s spirits!
Karey Patterson BresenhanDirector, International Quilt Festival—Houston and Chicago