We answer these questions and many more....so read on!
Who's Amy?
While we will never reveal last names (for privacy), Amy is a friend of ours who has recently battled her own cancer. October 2007 Amy was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. After 5 months of chemotherapy and radiation, Amy is now cancer free. Amy is a wife, sister, teacher, church member, Fighting Sioux hockey fan, movie watcher, avid reader, crafter, friend, role model, super organizer, ice-cream lover and so much more to all of us.
To be honest, Amy's pretty awesome.
Knowing Amy, she's read this, smiled and then called her husband over to say, "Look at this!" His reaction will be to smile and probably shake his head.
Why "Amy's Angels"?
The Amy's Angles name has two parts.
First, Amy and 11 of her friends and family members decided to walk in the 2008 Twin Cities Breast Cancer 3-Day through the Susan G Komen for the Cure Foundation. Because this group of 12 ladies decided to walk together and fund raise as a group, they formed a team in Amy's honor and named it Amy's Angels.
The second part is that Amy has always believed that she is surrounded by angels. While going through her cancer treatments, Amy had many friends and family who frequently made sure Amy and her husband, Marty, were taken care of. From meals, cards, laundry, wrapping presents at Christmas and even just a phone call--the angels in Amy's life made a strong showing.
When this project started to become a reality, a name was needed. After talking to the 3-day walk team, they gave their blessing to use the team name.
Each person who is involved in this project knows Amy personally or they are connected to Amy by one of her friends or family members.
How did your project start
Our project started when Amy's friend, Kelley, came across a blog of a woman who was just diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. On her blog, she listed her address (she probably didn't realize that folks can "stumble" upon blogs like Kelley did....). While reading the blog, Kelley said, "I should send her a card."
She then thought, do random people send cards to people they don't know who are fighting cancer? Kelley thought, "Why not...why not send cards to people who are fighting cancer? Who cares what kind of cancer. Just send a card!"
Kelley talked to Amy about the idea and Amy really liked it.
That is how the project began!
I'd like a card sent to someone. What do I do?
Click on the "Contact Us" button at the top of the page (or you can click here) and you'll see what is needed for card requests. We ask that card requests be sent via e-mail so that no personal information is posted on the blog via comments.
I'd like to ask that a card be sent to a caregiver who is helping a cancer patient. Is that OK?
Of course! We'll send cards to anyone. We would just need the same information (name, address, how you know the person, etc.) to make the card personal.
How much are your cards?
FREE! (how awesome is that?!)
Where will you send cards?
We will send cards to anyone in the world.
As Amy said, "It's 42 cents (or in the case of international postage, 90 cents). Forty-two cents to make someones day is a small price to pay."
I looked at your card designs and I really like a specific card. Can you send that card to my friend/family member?
At this time, we are not taking orders for cards.
If you don't take orders for cards, then why show us what kind of cards you have?
The answer is simple. We want folks to see our cards are more than just a piece of folded cardstock with a sticker slapped on the outside. Handcrafted cards can take over an hour to make depending on the detail involved (that's per card). While it may be disappointing to know that the one card you really liked may not be the one your friend or family member receives--the bottom line is we can't guarantee that the card you want will be available.
Think of it this way: a beautiful, handmade card is coming to your loved one to make their day brighter. That is what really counts, right?
Are you a non-profit?We are non-profit in the sense that we are not making any money by providing this service. Those involved are doing this on a volunteer basis and we donate our time and the materials for our cards out of our own pocket.
Do you accept donations?
We are still working out the details for donations. Please contact us to discuss what type of donation you'd like to make. Please keep in mind that donations to our project are not tax deductible.
What kind of cards do you send? Are we talking Hallmark or what?
Our cards are handmade.
We're based in Minnesota. It's cold 9 months of the year which means we stay indoors. If you were indoors 9 months a year, you'd do crafts too!
Homemade, eh? Who makes your cards?
We have a number of friends and family members who are currently making cards in their spare time for this project. We have a wide variety!
I'm a little nervous about sending someone I don't know, the address to my friend or family member.
We recognize that in today's world, people are sneaky.
And as much as we'd like to think that we're sneaky when it comes to keeping secrets and hiding Christmas gifts, we aren't the deceitful kind of sneaky.
Here is the reality....we can't take that "gee..I don't know" feeling away. We want people to know that we are good people with big hearts who simply want to make someones day a little brighter during their cancer treatments. If you'd like for us to write out a card to your friend or family member and have it mailed to you instead, that is an option. But we hope that you'll give us a chance!
OK, I'll send you an address--but what do you do with them after you send the card?
All address e-mails are deleted as soon as the card is sent.
Honestly--we wouldn't even know how to do anything devious with addresses. We can't even get the blog posts to link up correctly some days.
What is the turn around time for card requests?
Our goal is to have cards mailed out within 5 days of getting the request.
Have a question that you don't see here--ask us! Send us an e-mail to:
