This is the second year of the "Carly Valentine Project" - what follows is a little history of how it all began...
Note: For additional information, click on the links in Dark Purple
In October 2008, Carly read a book that she got for her 4th birthday, called Love, Ruby Valentine (by Laurie B. Friedman). It is about a little girl named Ruby Valentine who loved Valentine's Day so much that she would spend days preparing and making Valentine's Day goodie bags with treats, and cards with glitter. Then on Valentine's Day, she would load them up in her decorated wagon and pass them out to everyone in her town to make them smile and feel special.
Carly loved the story and immediately said that she wanted to do it too - because it seemed so nice to make people smile and feel special.
We kind of thought she would forget about it since Valentine's Day was months away! She didn't. We then thought that maybe she could just pass out treats to the people on our street, since we lived in such a big town and we couldn't really go to everyone! She didn't like that idea, it wasn't close enough to what Ruby Valentine did. So we asked her who she thought would most enjoy getting a Valentine visit from her.
Her answer was so sweet -- "...probably kids because they like candy, probably people who are sick because they might need to be cheered up, and also anyone who might not get a visitor or be invited to a party on Valentine's Day."
We had our work cut out for us -- the Children's Hospital wouldn't accept visitors, but we found some places that were very excited to see Carly on Valentine's Day:
Kids care Connection
Non-profit Daycare Center (Brian and Carly both went here as Babies and through Preschool)
Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery
Family resource in Golden Valley
Golden Living Center
Nursing Home in Wayzata
Community Living
Residence for adults with developmental disabilities (Auntie Heidi works here)
Those 4 locations equaled 115 Goodie Bags and cards. She counted all the money in her piggy bank, which equaled $48.76 (and she was prepared to spend all of it!). We sent out a letter to friends and family to see if they wanted to help -- and boy did they ever!
She raised $443 from over 40 people/families, including her preschool room (they put out a collection bucket and contributed $18 - LOT's of pennies!). In addition, she also put in half the money from her piggy bank (and got a little help from us too!). We had plenty of money to create GREAT goodie bags!
From stuffing/stamping the envelopes for the fundraiser, to bringing in the checks and coins to the bank for cash, to shopping-shopping-shopping, and making all the goodie bags, cards, decorating the wagon, etc., Carly helped every step of the way! She also recruited her brother, her grandparents and her dad and I for help. She truly led the efforts, and everything we did was based on her idea of what Ruby Valentine would have done. Very sweet!
Delivery day was so special (we had a few "helpers" at our stops --her enthusiasm was contagious and others wanted to be a part of it)! Carly seemed so empowered the more treats she delivered -- especially at the nursing home, where she went to 45 rooms - they were so happy to get a visit, and she would greet each person with such confidence and a big smile.
She gave and received many hugs and kisses that day. We were all very proud!
Well, you can imagine that this year she is more excited than ever!
On Friday, February 12, 2010, she will once again be loading up her wagon with Valentine Treats. We will visit the 4 locations mentioned above and will also add a 5th stop:
River Oaks of Anoka
Assisted living residence (Her Great-Grandma LoeAnn currently lives there)
She has already started thinking about what will be in her goodie bags and how she will design this year's card. We can't wait to start shopping!
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Thank you so much for your interest and encouragement! We will do our best to keep this site up to date.
