“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!”
Ok, had to get that off our chest. Had to “scream” at the “top of our lungs” since we’ve been forced to be so quiet and secretive for so long. How long? Well, since Q4 2016.
What we’re referring to is our Secret Admirer. We told you before about how we Had to Say Something based on all the ways they’ve been contributing. It’s just now that the contributions have been increasing. This includes behind the scenes volunteering, donating funds, making 4000+ cards, as well as having locations in 3 separate continents joining in.
The interesting thing is that it’s very rarely one location telling another about us!! Everyone is researching/finding us on their own and then deciding from there that they want to participate. Therefore, there has been no peer pressure of, “everybody’s doing it, you won’t be cool unless you do it.” Instead, it’s employees who are passionate about giving back and making a difference in the lives of others.
As always, we’ll be “100% open and honest” in our blog post. With social posts and/or the website we can focus on the bright side, #cantcomplain, but here’s some straight honesty. Not sure if you saw, but our founder did the Facebook Live video where we promised that we’d purchase portable video game systems for any of our partner hospital homes who took pictures for three quarters. One of the board members got upset and said we shouldn’t promise that to the foster homes/orphanages that we partner with; they shouldn’t have this type of system. They could accept something less expensive. This individual’s point of view was that orphanages, foster homes, Ronald McDonald Homes didn’t have to worry as much about germs and their kids wouldn’t need to utilize something portable. Finally, they thought that we’d NEVER be able to afford to purchase those types of systems for these locations. Well, thanks to our Secret Admirers, we’ve been doing well in both settings. Since they only donate money when their employees are making cards, we’ve been able to expand and reach out to more hospitals, Ronald McDonald Houses, foster homes/orphanages, and other non-profits that assist kids and families going through trials. They’re making the cards we need to expand and funding us to reach new locations.
Here are more honest and impressive details about our Secret Admirers:
Financial Forte. Most of our donations come from corporations, but if you look at our portable video game systems you’ll often strictly see the Cardz for Kidz! logo. If you looked at our prior GoFundMe, you’d see that it’s not based on the independent donations, but rather it’s due to the multiple donations of our Secret Admirer and, unfortunately, we’re not allowed to recognize them for their contributions, #hadtosaysomething.
Global Gifts. Thankfully there have been a couple companies who have started to join in and get their offices across the globe to join. For example, we’ve received new contacts from Sovos (#perfectionschecklist) and we told you about how Dell EMC had multiple offices around the world join in the past and we just got a new package from Ireland (#theirownsize).
Cardz for Kidz! to the other countries. Each time we simply got a new email from someone who may state that they found us online, enjoyed what we did, and wanted to launch an event for their team at their location. We would IMMEDIATELY make sure they knew all about the blog post about them, https://www.cardzforkidz.org/post/had-to-say-something-1, how their company has helped us grow, and how we know we need to keep it a secret.
What’s even more impressive is that we’re going to work with some of the team in France to help us in many ways! First, and this may seem obvious but trust us it doesn’t always happen, they’ll make some cards in French which could help us effectively meet our demand of French cards for a Ronald McDonald House Charity (RMHC) in Quebec and a non-profit we partner with that helps us reach kids in Haiti. We’ll ask our contacts if they can create some Congratulations and Happy Birthday cards that Manoir Ronald McDonald de Montréal requested. In addition, we’ll work with them to see if this is a one-time thing or if they think we’ll continue to receive these cards so we’d be able to follow up to the RMHC in France who expressed their gratitude for our French holiday cards.
Outside of the holidays, we’re often short on French cards. But thanks to this global partnership with our Secret Admirers we may be able to have enough cards to help take care of our current locations that are requesting French cards, as well as expand to new ones in France!
There’s a lot more that we could say (e.g. individuals who have put in time, a period of increased contributions for their employees’ hours), but we know the rules. We officially signed the paperwork, so we’ll make sure we do everything possible to make sure we don’t give it away too much. We officially need to keep quiet and can’t say anything, but we are STILL WHISPERING a continual thank you to our Secret Admirers for how they’ve helped us grow. Now we can reach disheartened children, solemn seniors, wounded warriors, and faithful families across the globe.