Amy, Child Family Life Specialist from U of M Amplatz Children’s Hospital, checked in with us in February and informed us that the supply of My Pillow Pets on the Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit was almost gone! Of course, we couldn’t let that happen, so we quickly connected with the company to put in a new order for the kids at the hospital. (Typically, we make a donation visit to the hospital around May Day in remembrance of an old tradition and our son’s earthly birthday month.) Loaded to the windows with boxes of Pillow Pets and a few other gifts, Bill connected with the hospital staff to help refill their supply room in preparation for some new admissions. The staff always tries to have a Pillow Pet waiting to greet each child. We know there are many challenges for these kids facing aggressive illnesses, so we are hopeful their new “friend” can be by their side to bring them comfort along the way.

Recently, when we were attending a funeral, we were enlightened by a couple sitting with us about the Rezek House program offered through Lutheran Social Services. The Rezek House offers transitional housing in St. Paul for youth, 16-21 years of age, who are currently homeless and from Ramsey County. Youth lease an apartment at 30% of their income and have case management and life skills training services on site. Hope Floats Foundation has provided a monetary donation to the Rezek House in support of their efforts to support and encourage homeless youth. We are hopeful the skills these youth receive under this program will help them to transition out of homelessness into living in a place of their own one day .

Oakdale Business and Professional Association’s Annual Gold Plate Dinner featured Pat Donahue, guitarist on Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion, to draw people in for this community event on February 9th. Hope Floats Foundation provided a silent auction item to help OBPA raise funds for many community programs including Holiday Helping Hands. In 2011, 400 local children, who might not have received anything for Christmas, received gifts through Holiday Helping Hands. HFF is grateful to participate in this event, which in turn blesses a life or two during the Season of Giving.

Two community groups from Hope Church in Oakdale volunteered to host a Valentine’s party for the children of parents participating in a Life Guidance Skills Program at EMWC in White Bear Lake. It was quite an exciting evening as children from 2-12 years old made cards, decorated cookies, played games, created a mural and watched a short movie on Loving Your Neighbor. It was a special opportunity for us to show our neighbors through our actions that we cared about them. EMWC works to prevent and end homelessness for families with children through housing, resources and opportunity.

Hope Church of Oakdale provided overnight shelter for families during the month of February through Project Home, a program through Saint Paul Area Council of Churches. The majority of guests in need of beds are usually single mothers and children. During the fiscal year 2011, Project Home emergency shelter beds were slept in 12,689 times. Families who stay at the church are also provided with evening snacks and breakfast. Hope Floats Foundation helped to supply paper products and some staples for Hope Church’s guests.

It’s a fresh start to the New Year, yet for some, the battle remains the same. The fight against cancer is ongoing! In an effort to encourage a woman in our area dealing with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, we thought it would be a great idea to send her a basket filled with some uplifting items delivered by her close friend. Often, the regimen of chemotherapy makes it difficult to maintain a daily work schedule, so not only is a person adjusting to the demands of the illness, he/she is also juggling their finances to cover medical and daily living expenses. To help offset some of these costs, Hope Floats Foundation also provides a few store certificates to assist in caring for practical needs. We are excited to hear that this woman has received her final round of chemo and is waiting for an all clear scan in the months ahead of her. We pray for a wonderful report!

For families dealing with long-term hardships, smaller tasks like buying note cards to send a thank you to hospital staff, generous friends and family or a long distance hello are not on the top of their “to do list” when they may be facing extreme health challenges with their loved one each day. We are grateful to a women’s Bible study group from Hope Church of Oakdale who decided to gift the foundation with a variety of handmade note cards to be shared with people in this type of situation. When you are the person in need of so much help, it can bring joy to your heart to be able to give a little back through a note of appreciation.

Continuing in the spirit of giving, in the midst of our Christmas Eve celebration at my sister’s home, family members gathered in a cozy room to tie blankets together to give to the foundation to use throughout the year to add to community baskets or share with children at the hospital. It was nice to take some time together with family to concentrate on others during a season when we are often preoccupied with buying gifts for friends and relatives or receiving them ourselves. What a good reminder of the spirit of Christmas!

As this year comes to an end, we would like to thank all of our donators, including our anonymous givers. We are not always able to share our appreciation individually to each person on the website for their contributions; so whether it is through your gift of time, your monetary donation or your continual prayers, this ministry appreciates your part in helping us encourage others to rise above adversity through the promise of HOPE.

God Bless You!

We might have thought we were brave going to Sam’s Club during the Christmas rush with one of us in a wheelchair, but our actions don’t even come close to the courage it takes every day for our American soldiers in Afghanistan as they defend the right for freedom. U.S. Marine Cpl. Joshua Hanson from Woodbury, currently stationed in the Sangin district, won’t be home for Christmas this year, but his mom, Luli Flores-Hanson, plans on sending a few necessary gifts to him and his outfit to warm not only their hearts but their feet with the help of the Woodbury Pack ’N’ Mail Store! Wet socks are a constant reality for these military personnel since their patrolling duties continually bring them through a river, Kathleen Friendt, Manager of the Woodbury Store, explains to us. She wanted to assist Joshua’s mom in providing socks for the soldiers, so she placed a community sock drop box inside the store for donations until the end of December. We were fortunate to come across this opportunity and even meet his mother who happened to come into the store while we were signing a banner for Joshua’s outfit! We promised to return with some socks for the box (after Bill’s knee surgery), and we were grateful to add to the care package for a hometown “boy” and his companions. We pray that their spirits will be lifted and for their safe return home!

Special thanks to Sam’s Club in Woodbury for adding a few socks to the pile!!

We were a little delayed with our October donations to the hospital this year sadly due to the death of Bill’s sister on October 27th. Amy, Child Family Life Specialist at Amplatz Children’s Hospital, was compassionate to us regarding our delay, but was grateful in December for the second shipment of “My Pillow Pets” since her supply was depleted a week ago and our delivery was just in time for an upcoming admission. She also shared with us that the Pillow Pets have become a favorite item on the children’s unit because many of the kids who lose their hair during chemotherapy treatments love how soft the Pillow Pets are to sleep on.

                                                                                                                                                   Several fleece blankets, graciously provided to us by the mother of a colleague of Bill’s and a teacher friend(of Mary’s) and her mom and friends, were all homemade with lots of love for us to share with the children to add comfort and color to their rooms! Amy was also glad to receive boxes of toys that will help to provide gifts for the kids spending Christmas at the hospital. It is our hope that these gifts will brighten the Christmas season for those children who will be spending this sacred holiday in the hospital.

With the help of Hope Church attendees, our foundation was able to provide two “Welcome Home” baskets to families who were transitioning into their own living quarters from “The Family Place”. Every time we gather these items, I am reminded of the surplus of things I have in my own home to prepare a meal and clean my house. These baskets provide some of the necessities to families who typically move into their new place with minimal items for daily living. We hope these small gifts can add some extra joy to their moving day.   We also had a donation of some warm blankets from a woman from our church and some gently used toys from my sister that we thought “The Family Place” may put in the day center’s play area. A staff member was very happy to receive these items, and we were surprised when she shared with us that these toys would make wonderful Christmas gifts for the children!  

   We also stayed around to serve lunch to the families at the day center with our faithful friends who continue to set aside a day to care for others as they remember our son Aaron and his heart for the homeless. The families really enjoyed the Sloppy Joes! I think the little guy next to me was packing food for the winter!!

We also had an opportunity to visit with the families as we enjoyed the meal together.