Happy Holidays!

The Preemie Project started out this holiday season with our annual Holiday Craft Sale at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.  This year our goal was to raise $4,150 in our two day sale.  The items from this sale were made and donated by TPP volunteers.  You can view pictures from our sale here. 

Thank you to the Gamma Chapter, Sigma Theta Tau International for donating cashmere scarves to sell at our sale.  They raised ~$1,000 for our sleeper sack program.  We appreciate the support!

We also wish to thank Earth Home Candles for bringing a display of candles and donating 25% of the proceeds to TPP.  They also donated a gift basket for silent auction with a retail value of $30.  Their soy candles are locally poured and smell heavenly!  They will also be donating 25% of online purchases to The Preemie Project this holiday season.  Just put “The Preemie Project” in the comments section.  We hope you will visit Earth Home Candles for your Christmas gifts!

As you can already tell, this was a busy sale.  Here is a look at the shoppers on the morning of day one.
 

Every year this sale gets better.  We receive more creative donations from a greater number of volunteers.  We also improve on our inventory display.  Volunteers arrive at the UIHC at 6am to unload 3-4 carloads of items and set-up for the sale.  We then spend the next two hours attractively arranging items on 18 tables.  This year we had so much that we had to hold some items back until the others sold! 

Nancy Fisher, ‘08 Fundraising MVP, brings a string and clothes pins to hang cute items along the wall. 

Nancy’s hat tree is also a great display item.

Each year certain items tend to be more popular than others.  Here are a few from this year…

“Ear Flap” hats for babies, toddlers and adults (newborn size pictured here).

Fingerless Gloves and Mittens (adults)

Blanket Buddies (pictured below), Taggie Blankets, Bibs and Burp Cloths

Other popular items included hats, scarves, mittens, dishcloths, potholders, baked potato bags, baby blankets, handmade gift cards, christmas ornaments and decorations just to name a few.  With all of these wonderful items we raised a grand total of $4,946.60.  We were extremely happy to surpass our goal for another year.  Thank you to everyone who supported this event!

Those who donated craft items: Marlys Harriott, Nancy Miller, Cherie Warner, Carol O’Neill, Marcia Tschopp, Amy Welt, Darlene Welsh, Leslie Gentry, Sheri Null, Judy Carpenter, Elsa Narvaz, Deb Nollen-Richter, Karen Jacobson, Cindy Dayton, Brie Roth, Lana Johnson, Susan Bess, S. Erdmann, Donna Tompkins, Sherri Parson, Sherry Christoffer, Joni Lakin, Chris Miller, Ruth Dawson, Shannon Pauly, Carla Lyons, Michele Hogue, Nancy Fisher, Audrey Knox, Mary Anne Sheets, Amana General Store, Jane Homan Gracer, Susan Smith, Linda Aker, and Earth Home Candles

Those who volunteered during pricing and the sale: Mary Anne Sheets, Linda Aker, Sheri Null, Michele Hogue, Marcia Tschopp, Nancy Fisher, Kim Horras, Audrey Knox, Elsa Narvaz, Susan Smith and Ruth Dawson.