Thank you to everyone who helped to support my spring project! A few days ago I was able to deliver a car full of goodies to Fostering Hope!

The donations were overwhelming and I’m so thankful for all of your support! We were able to provide the requested summer fun toys and activities, as well as many beautiful handmade drawstring bags and toiletries for children in foster care.

Please take a minute to look through the amazing items below (sorry I don’t have pictures of everything, but the boxes show you how much it was!) and thank you all for your support!!

Madeline

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the sunshine! I am happy to announce my project for Global Youth Service Day, which is April 23-25, 2021.

This year, I am partnering with Fostering Hope PA to provide items for children in foster care. There are several ways to get involved and I hope you’ll join me in supporting this great organization! I will be collecting handmade pillowcases, drawstring bags, and wishlist items from now until April 25. If you’d like to donate, please reach out to me and we can arrange to do a pick-up!

1. Handmade pillow cases – Children often enter foster care with just the clothes on their back. A special, handmade pillowcase that they can take with them will hopefully provide some comfort in a challenging time.
2. Drawstring bags and related items for Bags of Hope – Bags of Hope are small, drawstring backpacks, filled with basic items the children can use such as toiletries, nightlights, activity books, diapers, wipes, etc. Creating Bags of Hope is a simple way to comfort a child entering foster care and offer quick “emergency” items to the foster family for those last-minute calls/placements. 
3. Fostering Hope has also requested outside toys and items as the weather is getting nicer. Please visit the wishlist I created, or feel free to shop for any other items you think the kids might like!

Thanks as always for all of your support. I look forward to being able to provide many of these items to Fostering Hope thanks to your support.

Madeline

Hope you are staying warm on these cold snowy days!

A few days ago I made another delivery to Doylestown hospital. It was so great to be back there and to see everyone and be able to check in and catch up, even from a distance.

The delivery included pillows, blankets, prayer shawls, pillow cases, burp cloths, bibs, telemetry bags and hats.

Thanks to everyone for your continued support ! I couldn’t do this without you!!

Madeline

I hope everyone is staying safe and warm in the snow!

Last week I was able to deliver hundreds of items to CHOP as a part of Martin Luther King Day of Service. I continue to be so thankful for my team of volunteers who make all of this possible. Thanks to the incredible work of my friends from The American Sewing Guild – Bucks County and Granny Dots – Keeping Kids Warm, we donated:

• 40 hand knitted blankets
• 10 fleece blankets
• 40 neck pillows
• 50 pillowcases
• 50 telemetry bags
• 30 telemetry aprons
• 15 crayon/coloring book sets

We have more items ready to donate to Doylestown Hospital later this month so stay tuned!

I also wanted to take a minute to recognize that February is American Heart Month! I hope that you will all join me in recognizing this important month to focus on heart health and raise awareness for a variety of heart issues! I am so close to meeting my fundraising goal for Youth Heart Watch– please share and help me reach my goal!

Thanks for your continued support!

Madeline

I just wanted to share a quick update on the donations that continue to pour in to support the cardiac patients at CHOP. I am so thankful for all of your support!

Yesterday afternoon I was able to deliver more toys, books, art supplies and crafts to the cardiac Child Life center. They were so appreciative!

I also dropped off many of the amazing handmade items sewn by all of you. Thanks to your generosity, I was able to deliver hundreds of pillowcases, bibs, burp cloths, heart pillows, and telemetry bags and smocks. They will certainly put smiles on so many faces.

Your continued support is making a difference!

Madeline

First, I want to say thank you again to every single one of you. I appreciate all of the prayers, cards, calls, texts, emails, meals, and gifts. They have each meant so much to me.

I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor this week and I’m happy to report that everything looks good and that I am continuing to heal nicely!

I also want to thank everyone for your incredibly generous support of my fundraiser for CHOP! Almost the entire wishlist of toys, art supplies, crafts, books, and activities was purchased over the last 2 weeks! I know how much it means to the hospital and to all of the kids who will benefit.

I was able to drop this first batch of donations from all of you to the team at CHOP during my recent appointment. They were absolutely thrilled and appreciative. These donations will make a lot of children very happy! Thank you again! You can see photos of everything below.

I’ll be returning to CHOP in a few weeks for another appointment. I will be bringing handmade donations on that trip – pillowcases, heart pillows, telemetry aprons and bags, crocheted/fleece blankets etc. Thank you to everyone who has already made items or who is currently making them!

I appreciate all of you and will continue to keep you up-to-date!

Dear friends,

As many of you know, on September 14th, I suffered Sudden Cardiac Arrest while at Marching Band practice. Thanks to the quick thinking of students and staff (who I will be forever grateful to), CPR and an AED saved my life. The incredible treatment I received at CHOP has me well on my way to recovery!

Over the years, with the help of all of you, I have donated thousands of items to adults and children – including pillows, pillowcases, and activities to patients in local nursing homes and hospitals. Having just spent 2.5 weeks at CHOP, I can tell you that each and every one of those donations is put to good use and is so appreciated by the patients – like I just was. I now know first hand how important these donations are to the patients who receive them – and I know how limited they are. For example, CHOP didn’t have enough heart pillows, pillow cases, or telemetry aprons to give out. And when I was able to, I went through several activity books and craft kits, so I know they are always running low. There are also many, many babies on the cardiac floor who cried quite often, but they didn’t have enough hospital-approved crib toys to go around.

For my fall project, I am asking for your help to support the amazing heroes who save lives everyday in the cardiac unit at CHOP. (As it turns out, October is also Sudden Cardiac Arrest awareness month.) Of course, this unit will always be very special to me!

I asked the staff at CHOP for specific items that can be accepted and created this wishlist of items that are needed. You can link to it here.

I am also working with my grandmother to develop a pattern that can be used for the children to hold their telemetry boxes (these are the devices that monitor patient heart rates) – this was a big need and they did not have any more to give out! If you are interested in helping to sew these, please reach out and I can get you a pattern.

I will also appreciate your help with sewing kids’ pillow cases, burp cloths, and heart pillows to donate. These are also requested items.

Thanks for all of your support – it means the world to me.

Please consider donating an item from the list – I’ll be back at CHOP several times over the next few months, so I will be taking these donations with me as I get them. When you order directly from Amazon, the items will ship to me to be delivered. If you have other items to donate, just contact me and we can arrange to pick them up.

Love,

Maddie

I hope that all of you are staying healthy and staying home during this crazy time. I’ve been busy keeping up with schoolwork and trying to stay connected with my friends. Social distancing is not fun but I know it is very important and I hope all of you are adhering to it!

I was contacted by one of my mom’s friends to see if I could make some masks for her doctor’s office where she is a nurse. Of course I said yes! A special thanks as always to my Grandma for the pattern and the elastic. I hope they help keep people protected

Take care everyone,

Madeline

I am once again participating in the Pennridge Mini Thon to raise funds for Childhood Cancer research. Please consider donating if you can – and share with anyone who may be interested in helping me to reach my goal! I was one of the top fundraisers in my school for the last two years and I would like to be able to do that again!

https://fourdiamonds.donordrive.com/participant/Madeline-Hoffman

Thank you for your support- FTK!

Madeline

Today is a great reminder about the importance of helping others and serving in whatever way possible. No service to others is too small and everyone can do something to help someone else!

Today I was able to drop off hundreds of items to Doylestown Hospital as I promised in November. The drop off included baby items, wheelchair and walker bags, heart and neck pillows, children’s pillow cases, tissue holders and drawstring bags to be given to the homeless.

The hospital has requested more burp cloths and heart comfort pillows – they have already gone through the 100+ I donated in November!

Thank you to EVERYONE who helps me make these donations possible. I couldn’t do it without your donations and sewing help. You are all very special to me and to Buddee Bags!

Madeline