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The Story of SoaringQuilts® and SoaringPillows®
When children are staying in the hospital, they miss their family and friends and one of the hardest times is bed time. That’s why I created SoaringQuilts® and SoaringPillows®. I wanted a way for hospitalized children to be able to physically see that caring people are thinking about them and sending them love. My goal is to have millions of quilts and pillows donated to hospitalized children through Soaringwords. The first three hundred SoaringQuilts® that we donated to hospitalized children were purchased at Kmart stores in New York City. My assistant Greta, my mother, and I bought every single “Morning Glory” quilt in almost every Kmart store within 25 miles of New York City. Before long, these quilts and pillows became Soaringwords' signature hands-on community service project. Companies such as New York Life Insurance and American Express shared Soaringwords community service projects with employee volunteers who decorated the quilts. Soaringwords donated the quilts to pediatric lounges in local hospitals. We got a lot of hand-written notes and emails from patients and their families telling us how much they appreciated reading all of the special message and artwork drawn on these quilts. Everywhere we went, adults and children wanted to decorate the quilts. We were on to something big. Soaringwords quilts were displayed in all the windows of a bank in the Empire State Building. Busloads of school children came to the bank to decorate more quilts which were donated to hospitalized children. Suddenly, more schools wanted to have SoaringQuilts® and SoaringPillows® celebrations for school-wide community service programs. I realized that Soaringwords would have to start making our very own quilts and pillows to keep up with demand. I drew the initial design on a clean sheet of white paper. A month later, I ordered 1,000 quilts, 500 heart-shaped pillows, and 500 patch pillows. These were used at Soaringwords events and donated to patients. A few months later, we ordered the next batch. I wanted the SoaringQuilts® and SoaringPillows® to accomplish four things to inspire millions of hospitalized children and their families to “never give up!” The SoaringQuilts® and SoaringPillows® are special because: They are bright and cheerful so that hospitalized children and their families will feel loved and supported every time they look at the quilt and pillow. Have lots of room for children and adults to make inspiring SoaringMessages and beautiful artwork. Each pillow has a pocket in the back that holds a SoaringMessage – families and friends can put in a new hand-made message each day. Patients can also visit the Soaringwords Resource Center (www.soaringwords.org) and print out new messages and artwork to put in the pocket. Brighten up a child’s hospital room. When patients first come into the hospital room they can see a beautiful SoaringQuilt® and SoaringPillow® waiting for them on their bed and it will help them heal. If you or someone you love has received a SoaringQuilt® and SoaringPillow®, please send me an email and let me know what it means to you: lisa@soaringwords.org. If you have been inspired by the story of Soaringwords and want to help a hospitalized child to heal, please donate a SoaringQuilt® and SoaringPillow®. We will share them with our Soaringwords Youth Leaders and donate them to a child in a hospital. If you just don’t know what to get your friends and family for birthdays, graduations, mother’s/father’s day, and holiday gifts, you can donate SoaringQuilts® and SoaringPillows® to hospitalized kids and your loved ones will receive a beautiful Soaringwords gift card. Order now. Wishing you strength and Soaringwords, Love, Lisa Lisa Honig Buksbaum
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