Most of you know by now that I, Ms. Modern, enjoy doing what I can to help out children fighting cancer and their families. It’s less that I’ve adopted this “cause” and more that the children & their families have adopted me! I’ve learned over the past 4 years that even sending a sick child a card or sending a parent an email asking how their day is can tremendously help them in times of stress and strain. Kids fighting diseases are FABULOUS! They’re just like every other child. They want to play and learn and have fun, and their parents want to help their illnesses as well as continue to foster their children’s learning and growing. From these families, I’ve learned to make each and every day mean something and to always find positive in the midst of a negative situation.

With the holiday season fast approaching, I wanted to tell all of you about another organization I volunteer for each year. It’s called Hugs & Hope!

The Hugs and Hope Club for Sick Kids is a ministry devoted to encouraging children battling critical illness and their families.   

*The HUGS and HOPE Club provides the rare gift of friendship:  a listening ear, a sympathetic heart.*

Our mission is to share God’s love and provide friendship and support to families of sick children who live within the United States by sending happy mail and offering various activities to children between the ages of 2 and 17.  

 We do this through the following projects and programs:

* Mailing cheery cards (a.k.a. “happy mail”)

* Providing balloon bouquets to hospitalized children

* Granting children’s wishes 

* Providing Christmas gifts through our Elf Project

* Assigning a  personal “parent pal” who encourages, cheers, and supports the family in crisis.

This will be my 3rd or 4th (can’t remember) year being a Christmas Elf for Hugs & Hope. Families with a sick child often spend most of their money on medical care and don’t usually have a lot of money to spend on their kids for Christmas. Hugs & Hugs created Christmas Elf to make sure EACH sick child and EACH of their siblings receive a Christmas Stocking AND Christmas presents each year! Isn’t that wonderful? Basically, every child is assigned a Stocking Elf & a Presents Elf!

This year, I’m buying Stocking gifts for 15-year-old twin girls. Their sister suffers from a degenerative disease called Batten’s Disease. To fill their stockings, I’m actually buying some soaps from AJ Sweet Soaps & a candle from Southern Alchemy! I think girls of that age would enjoy those! If any shops would like to donate anything towards the stockings, let me know! I will feature you on Ms. Modern!

There is STILL time to register to be a Christmas Elf at Hugs & Hope! Gifts must be mailed no later than December 4, so you can still join!

To become a Christmas Elf:

Carefully read over the requirements & instructions before and make sure you can FOLLOW THROUGH before committing to the project.
Decide whether you want to be a Stocking Elf or a Present Elf. Decide how many children you want to sponsor.
Email Autumn to become a Christmas Elf for Hugs & Hope. Tell her how many kids you want to sponsor & which kind of elf you want to be.
She will assign you a specific child(ren) and give you a list of items they like.
Go shop & wrap the presents.
Your gifts MUST be in the mail by December 4th.

Want incentive?

1. If you sign up legitimately (DO NOT sign up if you ARE NOT going to follow through being an Elf – I am serious), you will get 10 extra entries on today’s AJ Sweet Soap Encore Giveaway!

There are MANY other ways that you can help out sick children in need if you don’t feel you can commit to being a Christmas Elf.  Here are some suggestions (Please leave a comment if you do one):

1. Urgent Need: Help Skiler and her family in some way – Read her story here.
2. Follow @ManicMother – Her 2-yr-old Ezra has ALL. Find out how you can help here. Tell her Ms. Modern sent you!
3. Request a Lanyard – They’re made by friends of a new Angel Erin Buenger. Donations can be made to CNCF in honor of Erin.

Angel Erin Buenger

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