Cards for a Cause

Today on one of my favorite blogs, written by Ali Edwards, she was letting scrapbookers know about a great contest that Bazzill Basics Paper is doing in order to win tickets for Creative Escape in Arizona.  I know that not everyone that reads this blog is a scrapbook fan and winning tickets to a scrapbook vacation is not their idea of the perfect trip, but the contest has a great meaning and mission. 
A 10 year old boy in Surprise, Arizona, has decided to make cards for our deployed troops.  Not a few troops, but 180, 000 troops.  Here is his story:

Boy Making Cards For 180,000 Troops
Original story by Amy B. Wang, writer for The Arizona Republic
Ten-year-old Stephen Goodman, a fifth-grader in Surprise, Arizona, wants to send a thank you card next to military personnel. Not to one platoon, or to just one division, but to every actively deployed service member in the U.S. military. Stephen said he thought of the idea while spending the summer with his grandparents in Phoenix. “My grandpa went to Vietnam and didn’t get any cards, and he felt forgotten,” he said.
Stephen started locally, creating and hand-delivering 218 Fourth of July cards for patients at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix. The feedback was so thrilling and positive that Stephen started thinking: Why not send one to everyone deployed? He began paying attention to news reports. Somewhere, he gleaned the number of overseas troops to be 180,000. “I was really taken aback when he said he wanted to do one for all the troops,” said Stephen’s father, Steven Goodman. “I explained to him it was a big project, and because of what his intentions were, he would have to carry it out.”
Each thank you card is handmade, using “construction paper and scissor designs and markers and stickers and my imagination and that’s it.” according to Stephen. The entire family pitches in. So far, they’ve made about 15,000 cards. Vice President Joe Biden happened to catch Stephen’s story while traveling through Phoenix last August. Stephen got his own thank you in the mail. “It just said thank you for what I’m doing, the soldiers will appreciate it,” he remembered. The letter made Stephen’s summer. “It made me feel very excited to know that the vice president sent me something,” he said.
When all 180,000 cards are done, the Goodmans plan to take them to Luke Air Force Base where they will be delivered overseas all at once to make sure no soldier is over looked.

If you want to go to Creative Escapes (or you want to win the tickets for your favorite scrapbooker) here is what to do:
To enter to win the Creative Escape tickets, create five thank you cards, go to http://www.creativeescapeaz.com/, download the entry form, fill it out and mail the cards to Bazzill by July 1, 2011. The winner will be selected by random drawing. Enter as often as you like. Travel and hotel not included.

I thought that this could be a great project for teachers out there to do with their class, for Sunday School classes, scrapbook groups, you name it, SO - - I called Bazzill today.  I talked to a very friendly lady who thought that sending in cards without wanting to be entered in the contest was great.  You can also send in as many as you like and they will deliver them to Stephen.  Just send them to the same address as on the entry form and add a little note to let them know you don't want to be entered in the contest and to the attention of Frannie.  All cards need to be in before July 1st.

ATTN: Frannie
Stephen’s Thank You Card Project/Bazzill Basics Paper
7001 W. Erie St., Ste. 2, Chandler, AZ 85226

If you do this project, please let me know about it.  I would love to see the cards that you come up with.

Add just as a side note, I loved calling a large company where a REAL person answered the phone.  No press 1 or please hold, or the dreaded, "Press 2 for English".  It kinda made my day.