Grace Blanket Drive 2016!

IT'S TIME!

Our 3rd Annual Grace Blanket Drive is officially LIVE! Help us make this year the BEST EVER!

We are now accepting blanket donations to gift to Piper's NICU at Children's Mercy Hospital, here in KC...

AND THIS YEAR, we will also be expanding our donations to some areas close to YOUR hearts as well! Grace Blankets friends in Amarillo, Lubbock, Houston, Little Rock, and Florida will be helping us deliver to their area NICUs! How amazing is this? YOU guys are making this happen, and we are beyond excited to increase our scope of service!

Spending so much time in the NICU allowed us to observe many needs that others may not think of when donating to a hospital. Donating a blanket not only reaches one family, one baby..... donating a blanket means adding to the NICU's linen closet supply. In KC, this supply closet blankets over 75 beds per night with clean linens; and why not add a touch of warmth and flare to these beds!?

A new blanket can give the feeling of home and comfort to a new NICU family, that blanket can be laundered, circulated, and make baby beds for as long as that little blankie can hold up. One blanket....will add a touch of love to multiple babies...and THAT, my friends, is awesome! 

Please join us in giving back to our NICUs, recruit your office, tell your friends, and let's cover these babies in love and prayer from around the nation! We will accept blankets for ALL areas...and then divvy our stock among our new hospital friends. 

THE NITTY GRITTY:

** CONTACT: tarajarvis13@gmail.com or text 817.319.8116 for the address to mail blankets to! **

DO NOT USE ANY SAVED ADDRESS YOU HAVE FOR US! (We're moving and I'll give you new shipping info!)

TIME FRAME:  Please have all blankets in the mail by AUG. 1st, 2016.

WHAT IS NEEDED?

• NEW baby blankets of all types, colors or prints! Have some fun, shop around and use your creative gifts! Nurses love a fun spiffy new blankie! 
• any medium sized baby blanket or throw 
• cotton or flannel receiving blankets 
• crib sheets & fitted sheets are great too, and always needed!
  
• DONATE MOOLAH! We can take care of the shopping for you, if you'd rather donate funds to our cause! We use our Grace Blankets fund each summer to buy additional blankets for hospitals. Contact me: we can take CC's and checks!

INSIDER TIPS:

• Hospital Rules - new/new with tag blankets only please. This ensures the safety of patients. 

• DIY Fleece Tie Blankets - are known to NOT hold up well to all the hospital washing. We will absolutely still accept these as donations, but use these as gifts for NICU families/babies to take home. They will not be able to stay in hospital linen rotation due to short laundry life span...those poor fellows.
  
• Yes, this is safe for all. With hospitals' Back to Sleep & Safe Sleep regulations, nurses use these blankets as bed linens underneath babes...not to cover them up! :) They can also be a great sibling support gift, and social worker scenario gift for families in need leaving the hospital. 

We are so excited to be continuing our work with our Grace Blanket Drive for the sweet babies of Children's Mercy Hospital, and now other NICUs nationwide!!! 

Named after our sweet Piper Grace, and made possible by her very own prayer warriors!

We are counting on your help! Can we beat last year's total?

2014 - 930 blankets donated

2015 - 2,512 blankets donated

2016 - TBD!!!!!!

Please do not hesitate to email me with questions! 

Here's to warming hearts, by blanketing babies with love!

             

On this day...

A year ago, on this day, Piper Grace left this earth.  I was aching, body and soul. The "worst case" had finally caught us, our fears realized, our grief began...a year ago today.  The drive home from the hospital the night Piper died, I remember being quiet. Silent with a million questions running through my mind.   "What do we do now?"   "Did that just happen?"   "Will we be ok?"   "How much worse will this hurt?"   "How long? How long will this hurt?" Piper's entire life, starting in utero, we planned to lose her. We planned, not knowing the day or hour, but we hoped, we loved her, celebrated her, learned from her and still planned for her to leave us. We prepared our hearts for the day they would break, not knowing how shattered we would feel. Shattered. What a perfect word for how her departure felt.  Here I sit, a year later, shattered still - but glued together with the love and support Matt and I have received. Glued together by the awe we have in how Piper's story has touched others. Thank you, for loving us this year, for remembering our sweet girl, for helping us through. I truly believe our family was touched by God's Grace during this time. When anyone said "I can't even imagine how you cope..." the answer is GRACE. How fitting, right? Grace. Yes a year has passed, we have lived and loved and learned some things. I look back and am proud of our strength. Our hearts have endured turmoil, and yet we survived. It's allowed me to view life's struggles with a different lens. There's not much I fear I can't handle. My heart can handle it. Bring it on, life! Thanks, Pipes, for teaching us to stress less, and conquer more! I'm proud of my marriage. I've never been more grateful that I married by best friend. In the midst of our NICU journey, the man next to me wasn't just my husband of 10 years. As my heart shattered, I turned to the 15 year old boy that was my best friend. He held me up. He knew my strength and reminded me of it. He wiped my tears, validated our decisions, and was our rock. Matthew Jarvis, I love you as my husband, but you, as my life long friend, was what got us through. I'm so proud of us.  I'm grateful for the teaching moments Piper's life and death has afforded me. Tallan Hope has been so receptive to chats about death, Heaven, God, Jesus; and I am thankful for her frank and curious mind.  I've spoken to a few groups, strangers, starbucks patrons, anyone really...about Piper Grace. The biggest lesson I've learned this year, is that I DO NOT HAVE TO KNOW how Piper will touch others' lives. I am here merely to share her story, and watch as she affects so many people in so many different ways. I think many people ask "why did this have to happen?" or the dreaded "everything happens for a reason," and I sigh and say that I do not need to know why. There's no ONE why, right? Think of how Piper's life has affected you. There are a million different ways she's touched you all, and it's my single most favorite thing to hear about.  Yes, Piper Grace Jarvis died a year ago, on this day. Matt and I kind of made a point not to build up expectations for this day. No rehearsal of emotions we assumed we'd have. No grave site to tend to. No balloons to release. We chose to acknowledge this day quietly as a family, and contemplate how far we've come in this past year.  A year ago, this day sucked; but the day she left us seems insignificant when compared to the day she arrived, the days we loved her, the days she taught us. I will be grateful for ALL the days I had with Piper Grace, even this one.  (Pics following are of our final hours with Piper.)