Card Drives

I get a lot of satisfaction from putting my creative works to use by donating most of the cards I make.  There are many volunteer groups, that can be easily found via the internet and social media, looking for donated handmade cards for adults and kids.  Here is a list of the groups I currently support.

Send a Smile 4 Kids

SAS4Kids supports several children's hospitals around the US with donated handmade cards for pediatric in-patients.  I send my cards to a very kind woman in Pennsylvania.  She in turn distributes them to four hospitals in the Northeast.  I've been sending Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day and Father's Day cards to SAS4K since 2015.
https://sendasmile4kids.blogspot.com/

Cards for Little Hearts

Christina Hor founded this group in support of the Heart Center at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.  This wonderful group collects donated cards to encourage, support and bring smiles to pediatric congenital heart patients.  I've enjoyed supporting  the February heart-themed and winter-themed holiday wishes card drives since late 2016.
https://www.cardsforlittlehearts.com/



Caring Hearts
Founded by Vera Yates, Caring Hearts has an annual holiday card drive in support of the elderly in nursing homes.  This is a very large card drive that collects and sends thousands of holiday cards to 100's of nursing homes throughout the US, Canada and Australia.  It's a great cause that brings smiles to many, and I'm happy to have participated since 2016.
http://lingshappyplace.blogspot.com/p/2017-caring-hearts-card-drive.html

Happy Mail

I joined the Facebook Happy Mail group, previously know as Little Warrior Cards, in early 2017.  This group supports chronically ill kids with happy mail and cheer.  It's an international group that offers the option of being matched with a child/children for on-going "monthly match" mailings, or you can opt to send "one-off" cards and goodies as often as you like.  Most of the kids in this group have multiple, serious and chronic health issues.  Information about their interests and favorite characters are provided, and that makes it fun to create a card specifically for the child I'm sending some cheer to.  This group also has a support page for the parents and caregivers of the kids.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/114248389241467/