ConKerr Cancer

ConKerr Cancer continues to grow each week! Over the past few weeks we have welcomed new chapters across the country including Bakersfield, CA, Hartford, CT, Louisville, KY, Syracuse, NY, Oklahoma City, OK, Danville, PA and Harrisburg, PA! That brings our grand total to 41 chapters serving sick children in 46 hospitals across North America!

And, stay tuned, as we will be introducing our first overseas chapter in South Africa next month!

Check our web directory at http://conkerrcancer.org/sew.html to see the many places where dedicated ConKerr Cancer volunteers are delivering pillowcases – and smiles – to kids with life changing illnesses.

Girls Gone Wild!

Lindsey Lewis, our regional coordinator in Vacaville, California, reports that her chapter in California’s capital is picking up speed! The chapter continues to deliver pillowcases to children at Sutter Memorial Hospital’s children’s unit in Sacramento. And, as you can see from this pictures, these young volunteers are sewing like wild as a part of their 7^th and 8^th grade community service project!

Becky Metzler, of Harrisburg, was thrilled to make her first delivery to Pinnacle Children’s this month. Becky and ConKerr Cancer’s youngest volunteer - her daughter Madalynn - delivered 51 pillowcases to children at this central Pennsylvania hospital recently.

Doris Callwell our Danville coordinator made a first delivery to the Janet Weis Children’s Hospital at Geisenger Medical Center. This hospital serves rural upstate Pennsylvania and has warmly welcomed Doris and ConKerr Cancer into their Child Life efforts.

Madora Downey reports that things are heating up in Phoenix, Arizona. If fact, the group that made most of the pillowcases for kids at Phoenix Children’s is a small group that found the brochure in the Viking Store. Special thanks to Sheri Crum, the ‘leader’ of the sewing group who really got things going with her quilting friends.

Planning For The Future

With growth comes challenges and opportunities. ConKerr Founder Cindy Kerr and her Board of Directors are working extremely hard to support all of you who give your time, energy and resources so generously in making pillowcases for the children. Over the coming months, we have a number of improvements planned including an exciting new website, new tools to make it easier to make donations to ConKerr Cancer and possibly a ConKerr Conference next year! Watch this space for more information!

Thanks again and keep sewing!

Meet Sue Kosmas – Metro-Detroit Regional Coordinator

My name is Sue Kosmas. My husband’s (and greatest supporter) name is Jon. We have three beautiful children, Adam and Lauren. Jonathan recently graduated from college and is engaged to Jennifer. We will all be celebrating their wedding in Oct’08. So we will officially be blessed with another beautiful daughter. Adam is attending our local community college and will be attending Western Michigan University in the fall. Lauren is a junior in high school. She is busy preparing for college and is very active with dance. Jon and I will soon be feeling the effects of an “empty nest!”

I began sewing in high school and have continued throughout the years. I have gone from my first project being an apron, to my wedding dress, to my children’s clothes, to quilting, to many a window treatment! Through all this, I had never sewn a pillowcase! How things have changed! I have always been involved in creative projects, children and I love to garden with my husband. I am now a nanny to 4 young children (ages 8-7-6-3). We often enjoy an after school project which include making pillowcases. The youngest, Gavin, is our “Executive Enclosure Card Inserter.”

One morning while getting ready for an appointment, I turned on the T.V. just for some “noise”. The Martha Stewart show was on and half listening, I continued my tasks. “Something” told me to stop and listen to the story of Ryan. I was so moved by this amazing family. (Yes, I was late for my appointment) The story of Ryan and of Cindy’s project stayed in my mind constantly for four days and after the fourth night of not being able to sleep I knew this was something I needed to bring to the Children of the Detroit area. I e-mailed ConKerr Cancer to inquire about a Chapter in Detroit. I was honored to be chosen regional coordinator for the Detroit area. Due to the holidays, our interested volunteers could not begin until January or February, but through determination, I wanted the children to have a pillowcase for Christmas. So, with one other incredible volunteer (Sue Andrews), we began making cases, and cases, and cases. In about two weeks time we were able to make our first delivery of 151 cheerful cases in time for Christmas. Our second delivery was in time for Valentines Day, delivering 203 pillowcases. Our volunteers now include The Dakota High School Fashion Club, a church group, many friends and volunteers who have also heard about ConKerr Cancer. The word is spreading and my volunteer list is growing. Without our growing list of volunteers our chapter would not be able to grow as quickly as it has. We are providing cases to Children’s Hospital Of Michigan, St. John Hospital and William Beaumont Hospital. I am currently working on bringing our project to the Detroit Ronald McDonald House and will soon be having our first “Pillowcase Day” at CHM. This whole project has been a life changing experience for me and has become a passion of mine. I recently had the honor of passing out some pillowcases to the children at CHM and truly, the smiles it brought to them says it all. It is the simple things that make a big difference.

Louisiana Kick Off

Our New Orleans Chapter got off to a great start on February 25^th. Najda Haynes, our Louisiana Regional Coordinator, reports: “It was great and lots of fun. We had 16 friends that got together at a local hall and sewed and laughed for 3 hours. We managed to make 60 pillowcases so we were excited that we met our goal of 50 pillowcases that are needed for March at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans. One friend actually cut all the fabric prior to our meeting so we were ready to start sewing. We have established committees to work in an assembly line fashion. We’ve got our cutting committee, sewing committee, and washing/ironing committee. I have received so many calls this morning with everyone saying how much fun it was. But most importantly, we are looking forward to the first delivery to Children’s Hospital. We are in the process of making it a festive event with balloons and cookies for the kids and then letting them choose their pillowcase.”

First Delivery – Atlanta and more!

Lisa Rowell, Metro Atlanta Coordinator, makes her first delivery to Scottish Right Children’s hospital in Atlanta. Many of our 34 chapters made first deliveries last month including Chicago, Washington, DC, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Seattle.

Total Pillowcases Delivered To Date: 25,510!!!

That is a lot of smiles on the faces of sick kids across North America!!!

Sad News:

On February 6^th, Ryan Kerr passed faway ater a six year battle with Osteosarcoma, a rare childhood bone cancer. Ryan was an extraordinary young man who touched more hearts in his 17 years than most people do in a life time. Ryan was the inspiration for ConKerr Cancer and the Kerr Family is both deeply saddened by his loss and extraordinarily thankful that we had him in our life, Ryan will continue to be a shining light for all of us and the continuing inspiration for ConKerr Cancer for years to come.

Meet Randi Hopman – Metro New York Regional Coordinator

My name is Randi Hopman and I am a retired dental hygienist. My husband’s name is Michael and we have four children, Bret, Elise, Jessica and Jackie. The three oldest are college graduates and gainfully employed and our youngest is a sophomore in college. I have always been involved in crafts in one form or another. I knit, do needlepoint and have been a sewer for over 30 years. As my children were growing up and leaving the nest, I found myself becoming involved with my local quilt store and since 2003, I have become an avid quilter.

While I was quilting at home one afternoon, I had the television tuned to The Martha Stewart Show. I heard the word quilting so I stopped sewing and watched the segment about Cindy Kerr and ConKerr Cancer. Right after the show, I sent Cindy an e-mail telling her about myself and my interest in volunteering my time to her organization. Cindy wrote back to me and asked if I would be interested in being a regional coordinator for my area. Of course, I said yes and the rest is history! I have been working with The Don Imus Tomorrows Childrens Fund at Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, NJ. Our first delivery of 126 pillowcases was in December and I just dropped off 70 more for our January delivery. We have made such beautiful pillowcases and have included holiday themed ones such as Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa and Valentine’s Day. We have also made special birthday pillowcases for the children who are celebrating their birthday. I am looking forward to sewing with the children and am currently working with the Child Life team to set up a schedule. We plan to sew at the hospital once a month.

There are some wonderful people who sew for our chapter and I would like to thank them from the bottom of my heart. I look forward to receiving boxes filled with pillowcases at least twice a week. This whole experience has been amazing and I hope to get some pictures of us at the hospital to put on the web with my next delivery.

Randi Hopman

Our Cutest Volunteers For January!

Nativity Brownies of Philadelphia

Nativity BVM’s Brownie troop #5340 are working to be angels as part of a Philadelphia Archdiocese Youth program called “Angel on My Shoulder”. The girls met Cindy Kerr, the founder of ConKerr Cancer project, and made pillowcases to donate to her foundation and children at St. Christopher’s Hospital. The Brownies also made angel necklaces for shut-in members of the Nativity parish. First Row(l to r) Maura Stump, Sydney McCarthy, Kayla Shields, Sarah Sokolowski. 2nd row (l to r) Arianna Politi, Megan Carroll, Journey Fitzgerald, Cheyenne Price, Emily Capaldi, Jordyn Young, Jessica Lehman, Hannah Bateman. Back Row (l to r) Sarah McGrath, Rylee Sellitto, Carly Venit, Bailey Haraburda, Cate Bonner, Angelica Moyer, Catherine McGonigle, Sofia Spellman, Jordan Schuller.

Shana Clapp – Radnor, PA

January has been an exciting month as ConKerr Cancer chapters are sprouting up across North America. We now have 30 chapters serving 34 hospitals and hospices! And, with our new chapters, comes many first deliveries bringing pillowcases and smiles to sick children in many new places. Our first deliveries over the past few weeks have included:

First deliveries are a very exciting time for the children, the hospital staff and our ConKerr coordinators too! Here is how Trish Rowland in Dayton described their first delivery:

“Today was a great day for Gracie and I! We made our first delivery of pillowcases to Children’s Medical Center-Dayton. Child Life Director Rita met us at the front door where we were escorted to the Oncology Ward. She let Gracie pull our box of pillowcases in a wagon throughout the unit. We met with 9 different children. It’s a small ward so we were able to spend a little time with the kids. A few were sleeping so we visited with moms and dads and they chose a pillowcase for their child. Gracie was so good with the kids especially the wee little ones. I have enclosed a couple photos of 2 girls who said we could take their pictures. I told the parents that there was a chance that they could be published on the ConKerr website and they were all fine with that. One little boy in particular was feeling very good. He was a Spiderman fanatic and had Spidey p.j.s on. He really wanted a Spiderman pillowcase. Unfortunately we didn’t have one so he settled on another one that was red and blue print! (close enough to Spiderman print I guess). Rita is a wonderful person and I was so happy that she let us come and be a part of handing out the pillowcases. She is also in favor of doing a sewing session with the kids sometime, so I hope to plan that. She will keep in close touch with me on how fast they are using them up so I can bring down another shipment. With all that you sent me last week, I was able to deliver 70 pillowcases today! All the nurses and volunteers were very receptive to the program and assured me that the person who prepares the rooms for new patients will make sure each child receives one. “

Thank you Trish for your great note and for getting ConKerr off to a great start in Dayton! And thanks to all of you who keep making pillowcases and bringing great smiles to sick kids ac/ross the country.

Thanks to you, ConKerr continues to deliver more smiles to children with life changing illnesses across the country. When we started all of this, we could never have dreamed that our work could grow beyond the Oncology unit at CHOP. But, thanks to you, here we are, 22,000 smiles later, cheering up sick kids from Coast to Coast!

ConKerr’s mission continues to grow each day as new chapters are starting up all across North America! Pillowcases are brightening hospital rooms in Children’s Hospitals from Toronto to Texas, LA to Boston and 26 other cities in between. And in each region, a volunteer coordinator has stepped forward to lead the charge. These wonderful people are busily working with their local hospital to get the program started, visiting fabric stores and quilt stores to enlist their help, working with school and community groups to create pillowcases and, most importantly, delivering pillowcases to sick kids in their communities. Over the coming weeks we will introduce them to you more fully, but in the meantime, follow this link to see the hospitals and communities they are serving: http://conkerrcancer.org/sew.html

So as we begin the New Year, we are thankful, hopeful and committed.

· Thankful - to you for your creativity, your energy and your willingness to sew and volunteer for the children;

· Hopeful - that our mission will continue to grow and flourish as we serve families across the country; and,

· Committed - to ensuring that EVERY child with a life changing illness is comforted by a bright, cheery pillowcase every time they visit the hospital!

Happy Thanksgiving!

As we enter the holiday season, all of us at ConKerr have much to be thankful for – especially the many, many great people who volunteer their time and their energy to give children smiles.  Thank you all.

Since the Martha Stewart Show, we have received over 400 inquiries about ConKerr Cancer.   We are thrilled that, thanks to your response, ConKerr Cancer will be serving children in over 30 hospitals in 15 US states as well as Ontario, Canada.  We will be updating our website with a complete directory of hospitals, regional coordinator contact information and drop off sites.  In the meantime, here is a preliminary list of the locations and cities where we will be making sick kids smile:

Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania

St. Christopher’s Hospital

Shriner’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Lehigh Valley Hospital

Alfred I.  Dupont

Penn State Hershey

Yale - New Haven

Goreyeb Children’s Hospital of Morristown

Akron Children’s Hospital-Ohio

Miami, FL.

Ronald McDonald Camp

Cincinnati, Ohio

Dayton, Ohio

Fort Worth, Texas

Tampa, FL.

Gainesville, FL.

Atlanta, GA.

Miami, FL.

Sacramento, CA

Los Angeles, CA.

Nashville, TN—Vanderbilt

Jackson, MS

Hackensack, N.J. Hospital

Detroit Michigan

Ann Arbor Michigan

Denver ,CO.

Phoenix. AZ

Pittsburgh , PA

Portland, ME

Toronto, Canada

Thank you again for all your support and encouragement.  Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Last week we traveled to New York City where Cindy was honored by the Martha Stewart corporation, Talbots and Bank of America as the grand prize winner of the 1st annual Martha Stewart Dreamers into Doers contest for her work with ConKerr Cancer. It was a wonderful three days spent in the company of the other 10 talented finalists, as Cindy appeared on the Martha Stewart show and at a gala in her honor, receiving a total of $20,000 and three Viking/Singer sewing machines in order to continue making pillowcases and spreading A Case for Smiles across the US (and Canada!). We have received many many positive responses from readers and listeners of Martha Stewart, and are very excited to see where this goes! It’s a good thing.

ConKerr Cancer’s first Macy’s Shop For a Cause was a huge success. Over 1,000 tickets were sold, raising over $5,000. Thanks to all of those who helped to make this possible, especially those Conestoga High School students who sold tickets for us at their home football games. Thank you also to Macy’s Exton for hosting us.

ConKerr Cancer was fortunate enough to win the Martha Stewart Dreamers into Doers contest.  Martha offered her readers the opportunity to be recognized for turning their hobbies into businesses or charities.  Without my knowledge, my husband Gavin nominated me for this award back in June.  We received a call in August confirming that we were the grand prize winners and that we would be featured in both the November Martha Stewart magazine and on the Martha Stewart show.  Thank you all so much for your support- without the dedication of all ConKerr’s volunteers, this dream could never have become a reality.

Be sure to check us out in the magazine as well as on the show on October 23rd.  You can check www.marthastewart.com for times.

Ryan’s peers at Conestoga High School showed their support for ConKerr Cancer at one of their recent football games by collecting money for ConKerr and wearing ConKerr decals on their football helmets and band caps.  Thanks for all your support, guys!

ConKerr Cancer pillowcases was Calico Cutter’s quilt guild’s community outreach project for September.  Their goal for this year was to donate 500 pillowcases, beating the 393 pillowcases they donated last year.  After hearing about Ryan’s reoccurance, however, they challenged their members to push for a grand total of 1000 pillowcases!  Not only did they succeed in their goal, but they far surpassed it, making a total of 1,650 pillowcases in honor of Ryan.  My car was so full of pillowcases that there was barely any room in the driver’s seat!

I recently had the pleasure of delivering a sewing machine, fabic, and a sewing box filled with accessories to Adrienne, a patient and avid ConKerr supporter at the CHOP King of Prussia clinic.  Thanks to an anonymous donor and Steve’s Sewing and Vacuum for donating and servicing the machine, respectively.  Adrienne was all smiles when she found out that she will now be able to sew for herself and others from home.