Information Packet Angels

Do you all remember the Member Packets we used to send out? 2 pocket folders filled with newsletters, the brochure, Parent Reference Guide, membership form, etc? In 6 different colors depending on Survivors, Non-Survivors, Expectant, General Info for Hospitals, Doctors, and Grandparents.

We haven't been able to afford the printing and postage (can be quite heavy) for these folders in a couple of years because we haven't had the funds. Now you can help us to offer this service again!

These packets are made of regular school 2-pocket folders. They include our Parent Reference Guide, brochure, old newsletters, new newsletter, Parent Membership Form, and other hand outs. This is a great project for your family reunion, remember a cherub on their birthday or memorial day for a cherub who has passed away, a fun project at a birthday party for a surviving cherub (award a prize for the most folders put together correctly!). You can recruit your family, friends, neighbors, church, class, troop or any group of people.

For donating these packets and putting them together on the inside you can put a "This CHERUBS packet was donated in honor/memory of ___________________" sticker.

You can print the paperwork from our web site and donate the printing, folders, envelopes, manual labor and postage. This costs about $5.00 per packet but often printers will give discounts and some smaller supply stores may donate folders and paper.

Below is a list of our types of folders:

Yellow Folders - for hospitals to give to new parents
Green Folders - for doctors to keep on file for new patients
Purple Folders - for expectant parents
Blue Folders - for grieving parents
Red Folders - for parents of survivors and adult survivors

You can send yellow folders directly to hospitals and all other folders to us. You can click on our downloads section to download all the files needed to print for each packet.

We are beginning to upload these files into our downloads database. We will include photos shortly!

I want to do this for my sons birthday, Nov 18th. I am looking for yellow folders-if anyone finds or knows of a website/store that sells them for cheap, even if it has to be in bulk, please let me know! Thanks

I'm looking. I'm hoping everyone else is too! :)

Officedepot.com has some.......they are $3.89 for a pack of 10....I will keep looking! 8-)

officemax.com has them on sale right now for $7.19 for a box of 25.

Yellow ones, Barb? Awesome!

Ok, I'm totally going to bed now! 'Night all!

yep they r yellow! Goodnight Dawn!

Thanks so much, I am off to check that out! I have been looking for days and I think thats the by far the best deal! Thanks!

I just went to get some from Officemax.com and when I went to checkout they have a quantity discount to $5.39 for each box of 25. Cheaper than expected Yah so excited!

Ok, I am trying to get everything I need together for putting a ton of these together but need a little help. Just so I can make sure I am on the right track so here are all my questions.

1. Do we have a list of what goes in each packet? How each one is different?
I have yellow and green folders-So... I am guessing we put one of each handout in the yellow but what about the green? Are they for doctors to hold on to and give handouts to new patients-in that case would we put say 10 of each brochure, PRG, etc... in those? The green go to high risk OB's and peds surgions?

2. How many folders would you send to the hospitals to have?

I know I have more questions but thats all I can think of right now. I hope that all makes sense. I just don't want to be putting together the wrong thing!

Thanks!

Here's all the info (maybe too much info!). This is how we used to do them, in office, plus Parent Matches too....

Hospital Packets for Patients Families (yellow folders) - 1 brochure, 2 or 3 newsletters, Parent Reference Guide, CDH Q&A, CHERUBS Q&A, State & International Rep List, Parent Worksheet (membership form)

Medical Professional (green folders) - 10 brochures, 10 Parent Worksheets, 1 doctor Membership Form, 3 Parent Reference Guides, CDH Research Survey Results, 2 or 3 newsletters

Grieving Parents (blue folders) - 1 brochure, 2 or 3 newsletters, Parent Reference Guide, CDH Q&A, CHERUBS Q&A, Info about Grief, State & International Rep List

Surviving Parents (red folders) - 1 brochure, 2 or 3 newsletters, Parent Reference Guide, CDH Q&A, CHERUBS Q&A, Info about raising children with special issues, State & International Rep List

Expectant / New Parents (purple folders) - 1 brochure, 2 or 3 newsletters, Parent Reference Guide, CDH Q&A, CHERUBS Q&A, State & International Rep List

Grandparents (orange folders) - 1 brochure, 2 or 3 newsletters, Parent Reference Guide, CDH Q&A, CHERUBS Q&A, State & International Rep List

I'll try to upload all these documents in the downloads section tonight if I can.

Thanks thats exactly what I was looking for!

How many yellow packets do you usually send to the hospitals?

About 25 per hospital per year ideally

Except for those that do fetal surgery, of course they'll need a lot more.

Wow those 500 folders are going to go fast...I guess I need to prioritize

You can start with 10 instead of 25 with a note to them to contact us if they need more.

Corin, do you have any photos from Gabe's birthday? I want to include one in the next newsletter if that's ok with you.

I know my mother and MIL had taken pictures-as soon as I can get my hands on them I will get some to you. I would love to have that included in the next newsletter!

Dawn,
Do you think we could do something like this in German? Am I allowed to translate things?

Hugs,
Crista

Great, Corin!

Absolutely, Crista! You can translate any of our materials into German.

Thank you both! :)

Corin- you have inspiried me. Ever since I read about Gabe's Birthday and all the packets you guys did- I wanted to get some to Riley Childrens Hospital in Indianapolis. You guys totally rocked!!!! I can't say that enough.
While we were at Riley Childrens Hospital for a check-up on Shelby- I had a NEW CDH shirt on. We were talking to the nurse and she asked about my shirt...I explained and she was like send me some information and I will personally get them to two Doctors- one is in the NICU and the doc who is director of surgery at Riley!!!!
I was so excited. It didn't not even dawn on me to ask at the time. It just worked out becasue of my cool shirt!LOL I plan on sending 20 yellow folders and reading all of these posts- I know what to include in each of them.
Is 20 ok to send - I see here Dawn you posted 25- you know what- I will do 25.
I thought it was pretty great and will be getting on the folders ASAP.
I think they will have to go into a box to mail- there should be no problem there. Do you guys think there will be?

I just have a couple questions. I called around to a couple Hospital's today and told them my plans for Shannon's first brithday in January. I wanted to start working on these now. Where do I find the site for the downloaded information? I'm still trying to learn the site. Do these packet include our Fall newsletter? I also just wanted to add that when I send out Christmas cards this year, I am putting a CHERUBS donation slip in each card and asking everyone to donate in lieu of what they would have given Shannon. Thought it was a good idea! :D

Go to On--line parent support- there are parent downloads there.
I hope that helps. About the Newsletter- I have the same question to. Should we include our new-newsletter and leave it at that or make sure there are two?
I think that is a GREAT idea about the Christmas cards.

Kate, Love the christmas card idea.

Kim

All the files are in the download section. There is also a list of everything that should be included in the folders on there. I did the yellow folders-the ones to send to hospitals for parents and included:

Parent Reference Guide:
http://cdhsupport.org/members/dload....ile&file_id=32

CHERUBS Pamphlet:
http://cdhsupport.org/members/dload....ile&file_id=44

Parent Worksheet:
http://cdhsupport.org/members/dload....ile&file_id=36

On Call Volunteer List:
http://cdhsupport.org/members/dload....ile&file_id=43

Board Member List:
http://cdhsupport.org/members/dload....ile&file_id=38

State and International Representative List:
http://cdhsupport.org/members/dload....ile&file_id=47

Letter Introducing Cherubs:
http://cdhsupport.org/members/dload....ile&file_id=50

Label for Outside of Packet:
http://cdhsupport.org/members/dload....ile&file_id=49

I also made a label to go on the inside of the packet that said:
This Packet was donating in memory of Gabriel Eric Nava

Business Card:
http://www.cdhsupport.org/members/viewtopic.php?t=775

Make sure to download the fonts Glowworm and Kidprint so that all the documents come out right.
http://www.cdhsupport.org/members/viewtopic.php?t=775

As far as the newsletters go-you are supposed to include a past newsletter and current newsletter.
http://cdhsupport.org/members/dload....egory&cat_id=9

Hope this helps. Just a tip-if you plan on printing these from home and plan on doing a bunch of them look into getting ink in bulk-(I use 123inkjets.com) b/c you will go through a lot! Also, start printing them as soon as possible, it takes awhile to get everything organzied-I ended up doing a lot of last minute scramble!

Thank you- my list of what to include was different from yours. But that totally helps- we go down to Riley Dec 14th- so I now have a goal to have the yellow folders done. I think it will work out better to hand deliver them, rather than mail.
I agree on the ink- I have started running off papers and WOW it is a lot- but worth every minute.
I tried to answer Kate's question-but you made it easier for both of us!!
Thanks

Thanks so much Corin! Like I said I'm still trying to manuever through the site. I was thinking of printing those out and then maybe going to Kinkos so I didn't use all my ink. Thanks again!!

You are all such angels for doing this! You are helping so many families to find information and support. Thank you, thank you, thank you! :)

Kate-

If you decide to get them printed off somewhere check out a few different places as far as prices. I found Kinkos to be a lot more expensive then going to Staples. I submitted the files online through there website and picked them up at my local Staples. Im not sure why but it was cheaper to submit the files online then to go directly to the store and give them the copies, I guess b/c every store can do their own pricing but if you do it online you are getting the lowest Staples price. They also had a self printing center which was cheaper than getting them to do it. I don't know if price is a big thing, but to me I needed to get the cheapest deal possible :)

You are awesome! Thanks so much for the help Corin!

Okay Corin - I don't know if I am doing this right. The silver lining is the only thing I have left to put into my packets. It's like everything is going haywire. I used my work's ink to copy all black and white stuff (Shhh - they don't know) Then I went to every store imaginable and could not find yellow folders or red, blue, anything, so I opted for white because that was all I could find. I have been putting eveything together. I went online to upload the silver lining to Staples, like you said. I needed 60 copies, 30 for each hospital. And it told me it would be $453 dollars!! Is that right? How much did you pay? If it is that much, I might have to make the newsletter black and white and just copy them at work, but I really don't want to do that. I didn't mind using my ink for the other things, but I think the silver lining would run me out!!

Kate-

As far as the yellow packets, yeah I had a really hard time finding them too. I ended up buying them online at officemax.com

Unfortunately that price might be right with the silver lining. I printed off everything at home (it really is the cheapest way to go) but for the PRG I ran out of time and had staples print 350 (black and white) , and paid $200. I know color copies cost a lot more.

What about printing them off at Staples in black and White. I just checked it out on Staples- I got $430 if you do them in color and $65 for black and white. I know it isn't as impressive, but atleast you could include them and get the info out-which is the important part :)

Printing the newsletter in black and white is fine.... and a whole lot cheaper. Have you asked local printers to see if one will sponsor?

No I didn't ask. I don't know where to find a local printer at? You mean like the Staples store?

If I do it in black and white - I'll do it at work, for free. Not my ink!! That's where I did eveything else. Thanks though Corin, I just didn't know if that really was the price. If I tried hard enough, I think I might be able to find a color copier at work. I just don't want to ask to many people and get in trouble.

I took the Silver Lining to Staples and said I need 25 copies of two Silver Linings.
Thinking "oh it shoould cost around $200. or so....when I went back to pick up my order- it came to like $500(I had other stuff copied) I was SHOCKED. So I got the manager and explained what I was doing and he actually took off $200.00. Which like I said SHOCKED me. It never hurts to ask for a discount especially for such a great casue.
It is nice to know that we can copy the newsletters in Black and White.

You can find a local Ma nad Pa printer in your phone book. That is a good idea, if you explain what your doing, I bet they would do it for half price or free.

Good for you Stephanie! I checked around for other printers, and asked if they would discount, but I didn't get anyone to. Of course I am really shy in person and have a hard time pushing it or asking for things, so I probably just didn't talk to the right people.