Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Totebag Drive

http://www.facebook.com/events/325863927448898/

CHERUBS H.O.P.E. (Helping Other Parents Expecting) Totebag Program assists families expecting babies born with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia by providing them with much needed free information and support items through a community project in which all CDH families can participate and honor their children while helping new families affected by Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia.

Donated items are collected by our members, CDH families and friends and put together into totebags by volunteers. Totebags are then mailed to families who are expecting babies born with CDH or who have newborns still hospitalized and battling Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia.

Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH) is a devastating birth defect that affects 1 in every 2500 babies. CDH occurs when the diaphragm fails to fully form, allowing abdominal organs into the chest cavity and preventing lung growth. The cause is not known.

50% of babies diagnosed with CDH do not survive. Of those that do survive, sometimes long hospitalizations and other issues occur. It is incredibly important for CDH families to have accurate information of all the treatments for Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia so that parents can make informed decisions for the babies' care. Items included are a CDH Awareness Ribbon totebag, personal care items for baby and information for the parents and family. Our CDH Baby Book is over 200 pages of valuable CDH information and advice.

Over 100 new and expectant CDH parents join CHERUBS each year. This project was created for them, to help them through the first few weeks and months in dealing with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia.

These bags will ONLY go to families affected by Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. They are sent only to expectant moms and those with newborns under 3 months old as these items are meant to be used during neonatal hospitalization.

They will be sent out to families in the United States & the United Kingdom as they join CHERUBS membership. We hope to add more countries soon, as our International Representatives take on this project in their countries.

For more information on CDH and CHERUBS, you can visit our site at http://www.cdhsupport.org/

If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation of items or money, you can mail it to:

CHERUBS
3650 Rogers Rd #290
Wake Forest, NC 27587
USA

CHERUBS
c/o Clair Maher
UK
uk@cherubs-cdh.org

CHERUBS H.O.P.E Totebag Project - ITEMS NEEDED

CHERUBS H.O.P.E Totebag Project

(Helping Other Parents Expecting)

CHERUBS H.O.P.E. (Helping Other Parents Expecting) Totebag Program assists families expecting babies born with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia by providing them with much needed free information and support items through a community project in which all CDH families can participate and honor their children while helping new families affected by Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia.

Donated items are collected by our members, CDH families and friends and put together into totebags by volunteers. Totebags are then mailed to families who are expecting babies born with CDH or who have newborns still hospitalized and battling Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. 

We are running low on the following:

• Baby Blankets
• Booties
• Cloth Baby Eye Masks
• Soft Picture Frames
• CDH Baby Books
• Disposable Cameras
• Children's Books
• Teddy Bears
• Lock of Hair Holders
• Journals
• Preemie Pacifiers
• Newborn Pillows
• Baby Angel Wings
• Pens

 

Click here to learn more and to donate items!

 

CDH HOPE Totebag Project Baby Shower - October 16th in Wilkesboro, NC

Calling all NC family and friends.... the Younce family is hosting a CHERUBS Baby Shower to collect items for our CDH HOPE Totebags - Giving hope to families of babies diagnosed with CDH !!!! There will be games and lots of party fun! Just like a regular baby shower but for a great cause! 

 

Time	Saturday, October 16 · 2:00pm - 5:00pm
Location	The Ruby Pardue Blackburn Adult Health Care Center 1915 West Park Drive Suite 200 North Wilkesboro, NC

Created By	Julie Powell Younce
More Info	Wish List Disposable Cameras Baby Blankets (any material but wool) Button up newborn or preemie shirts Small or preemie pacifiers Travel packs of tissue Chapstick Plaster Handprint and Footprint Kits Baby Booties Baby Hats Small bottles of lotion Small bottles of hand sanitizer Small picture frames ( for the baby's hospital bed) Baby's first haircut holders Gas Cards Restaurant gift cards (national chains please) CHERUBS H.O.P.E. (Helping Other Parents Expecting) Totebag Program assists families expecting babies born with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia by providing them with much needed free information and support items through a community project in which all CDH families can participate and honor their children while helping new families affected by Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. Over 100 new and expectant CDH parents join CHERUBS each year. This project was created for them, to help them through the first few weeks and months in dealing with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. CHERUBS - The Association of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Research, Awareness and Support. CHERUBS is the original CDH non-profit organization founded in 1995 to help families and medical care providers of children born with CDH. What is CDH? Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH) is a devastating birth defect that affects 1 in every 2500 babies. CDH occurs when the diaphragm fails to fully form, allowing abdominal organs into the chest cavity and preventing lung growth. The cause is not known. 50% of babies diagnosed with CDH do not survive. Of those that do survive, sometimes long hospitalizations and other issues occur. It is incredibly important for CDH families to have accurate information of all the treatments for Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia so that parents can make informed decisions for the babies' care. Items included are a CDH Awareness Ribbon totebag, personal care items for baby and information for the parents and family. Our CDH Baby Book is over 200 pages of valuable CDH information and advice.See More

 

5000 voters for babies born with CDH - can you help?

We have some AMAZING contest opportunities coming up that could raise Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia research, support and awareness to levels that we've only dreamed about. But we will need voters! We are hoping to get 5000 daily votes by next week.

Can you help?
 

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=123312954385123&ref=nf

Join this group and pledge to vote daily to help these babies and families and ask you Facebook Friends to join, pledge and vote too!   Together we can take CDH awareness, research and support from our small charity status to the same level of public awareness and support as Autism, Spina Bifida, Muscular Dystrophy, Cyctic Fibrosis and other well known medical conditions.   The days of CDH being the "invisible birth defect" are coming to end with your help!

CDH Fundraisers, Research, Grants and the future of CHERUBS

Note from Dawn:

Dear Members and Friends,

We'd like to welcome to our Fundraising and Grant Committees, Gina Cappola Della Porta!   Gina is an experienced grant writer currently working for a local university's research department.  She is now heading up our  Fundraising and Grant Committees and working on several events and grants.   She is a volunteer but our goal is to hire her full time in the near future to secure funding for CHERUBS and all of our services.  In the month she has volunteered for us, she has secured the Angel Ball, helped us find funding for the Save the Cherubs Campaign and started an NIH grant collaboration with Mass General for CDH research.   Gina has no personal connection to CDH - she saw a post about our charity and felt guided to join our cause through the goodness of her heart.  She is an angel!  Such an angel that I hesitate to post her last name because we know she'd be targeted by other charities and who could blame them?!   But Gina has worked with us and we know she's dedicated to helping CHERUBS and cannot be swayed!   We are so very excited and grateful to have her on board!  :)


CHERUBS has done a lot over the past 15 years with limited donations and only volunteers who are busy working other jobs and/or taking care of their cherubs or grieving their cherubs.   I, myself, have donated over 25,000 hours to CHERUBS through all sorts of life's hurdles including taking care of a very handicapped cherub and then losing him at 6 yrs old and during my own grief - and while working another job and running my own company.   CHERUBS deserves 100% undivided attention by people dedicated to our services and research for 8 hours every day!   We can only do so much with a volunteer staff.  It's time to move forward and to expand!    It is time for a full-time staff.  Let me make this very clear - donations will NEVER pay for salaries at CHERUBS, even though that is common practice at most charities.   Salaries will be paid for by grants or designated funds.  

Our goal, through our various projects, fundraisers, donations, Congressional Bills and grants, is to have an office, 3 full-time employees, and all 5 CDH funds full by the end of year, with a focus on more support services, financial assistance to families and $100,000's to CDH Research.   It's a big goal, but we've done more and gone farther than anyone thought a group of CDH parents could!   We won't stop helping CDH families and searching for the cause, prevention and best treatments of CDH and with a full-time staff, we can do so much more!!!!!   

Our dream (shared no doubt by all CDH families) is that by 2025, we hope to fund the nation's first CDH hospital complete with surgery, ECMO, in utero treatments, research, long-term care clinincs, genetic research, feeding clinics, support systems, financial aid and rooming for parents and siblings at the hospital so they remain together - staffed by the country's CDH leading experts.   CHERUBS wants to do for CDH what St. Judes does for Pediatric Cancer.   How much will that cost?  An astronomical amount of money!    Yes, we dream BIG, but we're determined and focused and I believe that we have the volunteers, members and CDH researchers to make this dream come true!

That's the BIG focus - the 25 year plan - but we still have our current services, CDH support, CDH research and CDH awareness to focus on too!   We need help to do all that we want to do and to do so much more!   We are working on MANY projects and fundraisers to fund all of our services and are always on the lookout for more CDH fundraising ideas and volunteers! Any ideas?

We have an on-line store, sell bracelets, books, CDH Awareness kits, cookbooks, calendars, 1000's of items through Cafepress and Zazzle. We've had events, formal balls, golf tournaments, car washes, 5k's, car shows, road rallies, raffles, etc. 

What else can we do? Ideas?

We like to be ORIGINAL at CHERUBS! :) We like to be respectful and we don't like to infringe on other charity's ideas (CDH charities or local charities), we like to lead the way! We're creative here and love watching other charities learn from our ideas. But it's hard always coming up with new ideas!

We are in an area in NC that has A LOT of charities who all have a lot of events! Repeating or holding the same event or fundraiser = competing for donations... we won't do that. And we have 2 Ronald McDonald Houses that have many events that we are very respectful of (selling shirts for nights, dinners, walks, games, etc). We also don't like to do events or fundraisers that could mislead people or not sell enough tickets so the prize isn't so big, etc... that's hard in this economy! Plus, we're in the Bible Belt, we have a lot of laws and rules on fundraisers in NC that a lot of states don't, which makes it harder. And with the economy as it is, we don't like to sell expensive stuff... our $50 Angel Ball tickets are as high as we go... and attendees get A LOT for their money! Like I said, it's HARD coming up with new ideas!!!!

We also have programs and events that are NOT fundraisers... just services to help families and raise awareness, such as our CDH HOPE totebag project, Adopt a Hospital project, Save the Cherubs Project and our CDH Conferences.

If anyone has ideas, please let us know! And PLEASE join the fundraising committee!!!! :) 


Thank you everyone for supporting CHERUBS and CDH Families!


Sincerely,
Dawn Williamson
CHERUBS President & Founder
CDH Mom

Cherubs are proclaimed the international symbol of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness

Long before there were "awareness ribbons" and "awareness bracelets", long before it was fashionable to wear a color for a cause - there was CHERUBS.  In 1995, with the creation of the world's first CDH non-profit, cherubs were proclaimed the international symbol of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness.   Most CDH families refer to their CDH patients as "cherubs".

Cherubs are baby angels, symbols of hope, faith, miracles for newborn cherubs and survivors.  They are a symbols of those babies lost to CDH as well.  This symbol was carefully chosen to represent all families affected by this devastating birth defect and CHERUBS was named for 2 babies in particular;  Preston Montague and Andrea Jones, both lost to CDH and both hospital roommates of our founder's cherub, Shane Torrence.   There could not be a more accurate or special symbol for babies affected by Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia than cherubs.

Since 1995, the word "cherub" has raised such CDH Awareness on the internet!   Do a search for "cherub" or "cherubs" on any major search engine and you will find CHERUBS in the top 10 - raising CDH awareness along the way!  In fact, several CDH families found our organization accidentally by searching for baby angels on-line.   Even Wikipedia has included our charity on their page about cherubs. 

Look at all the wonderful CDH awareness we are raising on-line every time someone does a search for "cherub" or "cherubs".   These ranks are out of the millions of web sites that feature angels and cherubs.

Google - Ranked #2, behind Wikipedia's page where we are also included
Yahoo - Ranked #2, #5, #8 and #9
Bing - Ranked #3
Ask.com - Ranked #1, but that has nothing to do with sharing Wendy Petty as a spokesperson for Ask.com and CHERUBS!  :)
Altavista - Ranked #2, #5, #7 and #8
Dogpile - Ranked #6
Goodsearch -  Ranked #2, #5, #8 and #9 but they pull from Yahoo.com

 

In celebration of 15 years of serving the Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia community and in celebrating our unique symbol of hope, miracles, faith, kindness and compassion, we will be soon adding more "cherubs" into our sites, projects, and the CDH Awareness Shop!

CHERUBS HOPE Totebag Project Delivers 1st Totebag to CDH Family

Our CHERUBS HOPE (Helping Other Parents Expecting) Totebag Project delivered our first tote bag in person on October 19th.

Dawn had the absolute pleasure of meeting the Hobbs family at Duke. Cherub Andrew is there fighting Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia and on ECMO. He is absolutely adorable and such a little fighter moving his hands and feet and eyes while sedated! His wonderful parents, Gene and Becky, are so sweet and we hope to get to know them and watch Andrew grow. Thank you so much for letting us welcome your little guy into the world and welcome you into CHERUBS!

In all, we have delivered and mailed out 24 totebags to new and expectant CDH families so far! It's taken 2 years, a lot hard work, a lot of donations and a huge community effort by all CHERUBS members to get this project finally going and these bags finally mailed out and we are so very, very proud of how all of our members have worked together to help new CDH families!

So many CDH families have done so much to help this project without any desire for recognition, any need to put their own cherubs on pedastals or any other motives other that to help other CDH families. Their hearts only focused on giving and helping others.... there is no higher generousity than that!

"Everyone working as a team - together - CDH families helping other CDH families. That's the true spirit of the CDH community and I am so proud to know each one of you!! Your kindness and selflessness is so deeply appreciated and admired and all your work and love will pour out in this bags to help so many CDH families! Thank you!

THIS is why CHERUBS exist! This is what we're here for, why it was created, what our mission is. Days like today remind me of that. Just to see that beautiful little fellow fighting CDH and to try to let a family know that they aren't alone and to hopefully give them information and support. This is why we exist. I am so proud of our members" - Dawn Williamson, President & Founder of CHERUBS

We would like to thank the following who have either donated items for the bags** or helped to contribute to the CDH Baby Book:

- Alliance of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Organizations

- Amy Atkins - in honor of Faith Atkins

- Amy Miles - in memory of Faith Miles

- Amy Rademaker – in memory of Jonathan Rademaker

- Angie Finley - in honor of Tyler Finley

- Barbara Wagner – in honor of Logan Wagner

- Big Y Store

- BJ's Wholesale

- Boston Children’s Hospital

- Brenda Slavin – in memory of Amanda and Nicolas Slavin

- Brian Anthony

- Cathy Colvin - in memory of Kasey Colvin

- CHERUBS – The Association of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Research, Awareness and Support

- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

- Christie Brooks - in memory of Madison Brooks

- Chuck and Kara Hess – in honor of Adam Hess

- Cindy Collins - in honor of Jason Collins

- Corin Nava – in memory of Gabrial Nava

- Craig Williamson – in memory of Shane Torrence

- Danielle Kessner – in memory of Alyssa Kessner

- Darcy Miller

- Darlene Silverman – in honor of Emily Daly

- Dawn Williamson – in memory of Shane Torrence

- Denise Dunfee.- in memory of Ryan Mudderman

- Denise Richer

- Elaine Moats – in honor of Kristin Moats

- Fetal Care Center of Cincinnati

- Gail Hyziak – in honor of Michael Hyziak

- Garret Williamson – in memory of Shane Torrence

- Iris Adame – in memory of Aileen Adame

- International CDH Study Group

- Jay Wilson, MD

- Jeanne Nava - in memory of Gabriel Nava

- Judi Toth – in memory of Christopher Toth

- Karla Holt – in honor of Braden Holt

- Kate Crawford - in memory of Shannon Crawford

- Kathy Shelton - in honor of Logan Wagner

- Kevin and Nicolle Colvin - in memory of Kasey Colvin

- Kim Richards – in memory of Olivia Richards

- Kim Switzer – in memory of Asher Switzer-McCoy

- Leah Koehn - in honor of Jacob Koehn

- Lesli Taylor, MD

- Maria LaFond Visscher – Abiding Hearts

- Michael Harrison, MD

- Pam Lally, MD

- Rachel Holt - in honor of Braden Holt

- Shana Kelly – in honor of Landon Kelly

- Shandi & Paige Cox – in memory of Caleb Cox

- Shauna Curtis - in honor of Addison Curtis

- Stephanie Olivarez - in honor of Shelby Olivarez

- Tamara Klein

- Tammy Spohr – in honor of Bryston Spohr

- Tara Hall – in honor of Brandon Hall

- The International CDH Study Group

- Theresa Wellman – in memory of Donnie Wellman

- Tyler Welch - in memory of Jamie Welch

- Wal-Mart

- Willie & Megan Skaggs – in memory of Michael Joseph “MJ” Skaggs

Learn more about our totebag project here - http://www.cdhsupport.org/donate/hope.php

Learn more about needed donations here -
http://cdhsupport.org/members/viewforum.php?f=237


*** We took over this project from a member. A lot of donations have not been properly accounted for. If you donated an item or money and are not listed above, please let us know!

CHERUBS HOPE Totebag Project Blankets

We are busy, busy, busy as bees working on this project and it's almost ready to start! We do have a few problems and need some help!

1. We still need some items. Especially disposable cameras, handprint and footprint kits, 3 ring binders and teddy bears. The list is below. Please see if you can help out some CDH families.

2. When we took this project over from the originator it was a bit disorganized. We have no idea who donated what items! Below are photos of blankets, please help us to identify them at http://www.cdhsupport.org/members/viewtopic.php?t=3350&highlight= We'll post the other items in that forum as well.

We are going to label each item donated for the totebags. So much love and time went into them, the recipients should know that other CDH parents donated these things!

We have absolutely no idea who donated what. So we need your help please. If you donated any of these blankets, please let us know!

I apologize for the photos - they don't do these beautiful blankets justice at all!

Hand Made Blankets



1. white with pale pink, blue and yellow (with a crocheted pink rose attached to one corner)
donated by ?



2. rose and cream tim with hooded corner
donated by ?



3. CDH ribbon
donated by Barbara Wagner in honor of Logan Wagner



4. purple and mint green (with a crocheted pink rose attached to one corner)
donated by ?



5. pink, yellow and blue trim (with a crocheted pink rose attached to one corner)
donated by ?



6. yellow and mint green (with a crocheted pink rose attached to one corner)
donated by ?



7. pink, yellow, mint green and white
donated by ?



8. blue, baby blue, navy blue and white
donated by ?



9. yellow, mint green, white and tan
donated by ?



10. baby blue and tan
donated by ?



11. CDH ribbon
donated by Barbara Wagner in honor of Logan Wagner



12. yellow, blue, green, purple blocks with yellow trim
donated by ?



13. colonial blue and white trim
donated by ?



14. blue and white
donated by ?



15. pink with white trim (with a crocheted pink rose attached to one corner)
donated by ?



16. pink (with a crocheted pink rose attached to one corner)
donated by ?



17. mint green with blue and yellow stripes (with a crocheted pink rose attached to one corner)
donated by ?



18. brown and baby blue
donated by ?



19. sage green, tan, cream, blue
donated by ?



20. pink and lavender
donated by ?



21. baby yellow with white trim
donated by ?



22. pink, blue, yellow, lavender, mint green blocks with white trim
donated by ?



23. pink and white stripes
donated by Leah Koehn in honor of Caleb Koehn



24. pink, white, purple and yellow stripes with pink trim
donated by Leah Koehn in honor of Caleb Koehn



25. green and white stripes
donated by Leah Koehn in honor of Caleb Koehn



26. pink animal print, flannel
donated by ?



27. pink animal print, flannel
donated by ?



28. green and orange monkey print, flannel
donated by ?



29. white with spirals, flannel
donated by Leah Koehn in honor of Caleb Koehn



Store Brought Blankets


30-32.
baby blue with silk trim
pink with silk trim
baby blue with silk trim
donated by ?



33-34.
baby blue cherub teddy blanket with silk trim
pink cherub teddy blanket with silk trim
donated by ?



35-36.
white cherub teddy blanket with silk trim
white cherub teddy blanket with silk trim
donated by ?



37-40.
lavender flannel with hearts
baby blue flannel
blue with teddy bear, moon and stars flannel
pink flannel
donated by Angie Finley in honor of Tyler Finley



41-47.
8 yellow baby duck blankets
donated by ?



48-57.
10 baby blue flannel blankets
donated by ?


If you donated one of the blankets above please contact us dawn.williamson@cdhsupport.org

If you would like to donate a blanket or other item for our CHERUBS H.O.P.E. Totebag project please visit http://cdhsupport.org/donate/hope.php

We still need many items for this project! Items Needed:

- Disposable Cameras
- Baby Blankets (any material but wool)
- Travel packs of tissues
- Chapsticks
- Plaster Handprint and Footprint Kits
- Baby Booties
- Baby Hats
- Small bottles of hand santizer
- Small bottles of lotion
- Small picture frames (for the baby's hospital bed)
- Small teddy bears
- Gas Cards
- Restaurant gift certificates (national chains please)
- White 1.5" 3 ring view binders (for CDH Baby Book)
- Page dividers for the binders
- Photo pages for binder
- Coloring Pages - DONATED by the family of Caleb Cox. Thank you!!!


Sponsorships / Services Needed:

- $150 Sponsor for CDH Awareness Ribbon Pins
- $200 Sponsor for CDH Awareness Bracelets
- Printing services for the tote bags / transfer paper
- Printing services for the CDH information


Hospitals and businesses are welcome to sponsor ads in the baby book to help cover costs of this project (we do reserve the right to deny inappropriate sponsorships). You can sponsor a 1/4 page add for $150, a full page add for $500. Your ad will be included in 150 books. Ad sponsorships will go to cover postage of the packages to the families and items needed that aren't donated. If you would like to sponsor an ad, please make sure to include your logo / photo and other information on a print ready ad.

These bags will ONLY go to families affected by Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. They will be sent out around the globe to families as they join.

For more information on CDH and CHERUBS, you can visit our site at http://www.cdhsupport.org

If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation of items or money, you can mail it to:

CHERUBS
3650 Rogers Rd #290
Wake Forest, NC 27587