Cello Bags – Pretty Ribbon Combo
Here is a combination we don’t see often. Our Small Cello Bag Favors with gold foil inside - tied with navy and petal peach ribbons. Their wedding donation went to the American Cancer Society.
Pink Ribbons – Large Dessert Favors – Beautiful Design & Venue
Once in a while we see our favors presented in such a way that we feel art and design meet. This combination of art and design met at the Bedford Village Inn at Bedford NH, with a winning team of Kate Parker Designs as the event and floral designer, Wild Orchid Baking Co. as the cake designer and Mark Davidson as the event photographer. The tables were covered in a beautiful sapphire blue satin table cloth. Fabulous astor chairs were brought in with a dark fruitwood finish to add a regal feel to the Great Hall. Each of the napkins were folded and had our large dessert favor wrapped in pink ribbon to match the flowers. The centerpieces consisted of white and mini green hydrangea, pink hyacinth, pink parrot tulips, pink ranunculus, dusty miller and white anemones with dark centers surrounded by 8 votive candles. Check out the colors….
April Awareness Month
April is a busier time for the national awareness months. Worth noting is the National Autism Awareness Month posted by the The Autism Sciety. This organization was founded in 1965 by Dr. Bernard Rimland, Dr. Ruth Sullivan and many other parents of children with autism. The Autism Society is the leading source of trusted and reliable information about autism.
Many of our clients choose Autism Speaks as their charity for their wedding donation. Autism Speaks was founded in February 2005 by Bob and Suzanne Wright, grandparents of a child with autism. Their longtime friend Bernie Marcus donated $25 million to help financially launch the organization. Since then, Autism Speaks has grown into the nation’s largest autism science and advocacy organization, dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism. Either of these two organizations are worthy of your attention.
| 1 – 30 National Autism Awareness Month The Autism Society 4340 East West Highway, Suite 350 Bethesda, MD 20814-3067 (800) 3–AUTISM (328-8476) (301) 657-0881 (301) 657-0869 Fax info@autism-society.org www.autism-society.org/about-us/national -autism-awareness-month/ Materials available Contact: Jennifer Repella 1 – 30 National Distracted Driving Awareness Month FocusDriven P. O. Box 7001 River Forest, IL 60305 (603) 775-2405 info@focusdriven.org www.focusdriven.org/index.aspx Materials available Contact: None designated
1 – 30 Irritable Bowel Syndrome Awareness Month International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders P.O. Box 170864 Milwaukee, WI 53217-8076 (888) 964-2001 (414) 964-1799 (414) 964-7176 Fax iffgd@iffgd.org www.aboutibs.org/site/about-ibs/april-ib s- 1 – 30 Alcohol Awareness Month National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. 244 East 58th Street, 4th Floor New York, NY 10022 (800) NCA-CALL (622-2255) (24-hour helpline) (212) 269-7797 (212) 269-7510 Fax national@ncadd.orgwww.ncadd.org Materials available Contact: None designated awareness-month 1 – 30 National Donate Life Month Division of Transplantation, Healthcare Systems Bureau Health Resources and Services Administration U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Parklawn Building, Room 12C-05 5600 Fishers Lane Rockville, MD 20857 (888) 275-47721 – 30 National Facial Protection Month American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry American Association of Orthodontists 9700 West Bryn Mawr Avenue Rosemont, IL 60018 (847) 678-6200 inquiries@aaoms.org www.aaoms.org Materials available Contact: AAOMS Communications (703) 821-2098 Fax ask@hrsa.gov www.organdonor.gov Materials available Contact: Division of Transplantation Staff 1 – 30 National Minority Health Month Office of Minority Health U.S. Department of Health and Human Services P.O. Box 37337 Washington, DC 20013-7337 (800) 444-6472 (240) 453-2883 Fax info@minorityhealth.hhs.gov minorityhealth.hhs.gov/ Materials available Contact: Information Specialist 1 – 30 National Sarcoidosis Awareness Month National Sarcoidosis Society National Sarcoidosis Foundation Mercy Hospital & Medical Center 2525 South Michigan Avenue, Lower Area – Media Area Chicago, IL 60616 (312) 567-6626 (312) 567-6144 Fax sarcoidosis3@gmail.com www.nationalsarcoidosisfriends.org Materials available Contact: Glenda Fulton 1 – 30 Occupational Therapy Month American Occupational Therapy Association 4720 Montgomery Lane Bethesda, MD 20814 (301) 652-6611 (800) 377-8555 TDD (301) 652-7258 Fax pr@aota.org www.promoteot.org Materials available Contact: Katie Riley 1 – 30 Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) 2000 L Street NW, Suite 406 Washington, DC 20036 (800) 656-4673 info@rainn.org www.rainn.org Materials available Contact: None designated 1 – 30 Sports Eye Safety Awareness Month American Academy of Ophthalmology P.O. Box 7424 San Francisco, CA 94120-7424 (415) 447-0258 (415) 561-8533 Fax eyemd@aao.org www.geteyesmart.org/eyesmart/injuries/in dex.cfm Materials available Contact: Georgia Alward 1 – 30 24 World Meningitis Day Confederation of Meningitis Organization Telethon Institute for Child Health Research P.O. Box 855 West Perth AUSTRALIA, 6872 +61 894897791 + 61 894897705 Fax lindag@ichr.uwa.edu.au www.comoonline.org Materials available Contact: Linda Gibbs STI Awareness Month American Social Health P. O. Box 13827 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-3827 (919) 361-8400 (919) 361-8425 Fax info@ashastd.org www.ashastd.org/stiawarenessmonth.cfm Materials available Contact: ASHA Media Relations Office 1 – 30 Women’s Eye Health and Safety Month Prevent Blindness America 211 West Wacker Drive, Suite 1700 Chicago, IL 60606 (800) 331-2020 (312) 363-6001 (312) 363-6052 Fax info@preventblindness.org www.preventblindness.org Materials available Contact: PBA Consumer and Patient Hotline 2 – 8 National Public Health Week American Public Health Association 800 I Street NW Washington, DC 20001-3710 (202) 777-2425 (202) 777-2500 TTY (202) 777-2532 Fax cintya.renderos@apha.org www.nphw.org Materials available Contact: Cintya Renderos 5 National Alcohol Screening Day® Screening for Mental Health, Inc. One Washington Street, Suite 304 Wellesley Hills, MA 02481 (781) 239-0071 (781) 431-7447 Fax smhinfo@mentalhealthscreening.org www.mentalhealthscreening.org/events/nat ional-alcohol-screening-day.aspx Materials available Contact: None designated 7 World Health Day Pan American Health Organization WHO Regional Office for the Americas 525 23rd Street NW Washington, DC 20037-2895 (202) 974-3000 (202) 974-3663 Fax www.who.int/world-health-day/en/ Materials available Contact: None designated 21 – 28 National Infant Immunization Week National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS A27 Atlanta, GA 30333 (800) CDC-INFO (232-4636) (404) 639-8200 (404) 639-8905 Fax cdcinfo@cdc.gov www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw/default .htm Materials available Contact: Dwan Hightower 21 – 28 Safe Kids Week Safe Kids Worldwide 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20004 (202) 662-4476 kcollins@safekids.org www.safekids.org/sports Materials available Contact: Katherine Collins 22 – 28 National Infertility Awareness Week RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association 1760 Old Meadow Road, Suite 500 McLean, VA 22102 (703) 556-7172 (703) 506-3266 Fax www.resolve.org Materials available Contact: Rebecca Flick 24 World Meningitis Day Confederation of Meningitis Organization Telethon Institute for Child Health Research P.O. Box 855 West Perth AUSTRALIA, 6872 +61 894897791 + 61 894897705 Fax lindag@ichr.uwa.edu.au www.comoonline.org Materials available Contact: Linda Gibbs
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Purple Ribbons!!!
A few weeks ago a client asked us for a photo of purple ribbons. We told her that we didn’t have any because when purple is photographed, the ribbons appear ”blue” in the photo. We then sent her a purple sample ribbon to review. Well… since then we’ve adjusted things (mainly our camera and photo set-up), and we’re able to capture the true color of our purple ribbons! So here is fabulous purple with our medium chocolate wedding favors; inside are dark chocolate and champagne truffles.
Helena and Chris – New York
“…Our experience with Truffles for a Cause was fantastic. We were definitely against giving out useless favors, particularly when so many other things deserve financial attention, but we were conflicted that some would be offended if they didn’t receive a trinket of some sort. Truffles for a Cause was a perfect balance because it allowed us to donate to a fund we thought deserved attention, while still being able to provide our guests with a little something to enjoy as a “thank you.” Working with you was a pleasure – the process was simple, the personal attention was wonderful, and the final product was beautiful and delicious! We had guests contacting us after the wedding to tell us they were so grateful for those little chocolate delights on their way home, or the next day. Everyone enjoyed them, and we were very happy to have a few extra to stash away for ourselves, which we munched on while on our flight to Antigua for our honeymoon! Beats airplane pretzels any day!! Thanks to Truffles for a Cause for a fantastic experience that both DOES good and TASTES good!!”
“…The charity we donated to was The Conservation Fund. They’ve saved land in all 50 states – nearly 7 millions acres of wild land, working lands, and communities. They’ve found a way to balance the economic needs of our country with the environmental needs of the earth and bring them together so that the environment doesn’t become the expense of our economy. They partner with community, government and corporate organizations and insist that everything they do has both environmental AND economic value, from protecting working forests and recreation destinations that provide local revenue to help communities grow thoughtfully.”
Thanks again, Helena and Chris
The favors that Helena and Chris choose were our Small Favors with Silver Foil and Navy Blue Ribbons. Their photographer is Michael O’Neill Fine Art – http://michaeloneillfineart.com/.
Large Dessert Favors – Dark Chocolate Raspberry and Kraft boxes
Assembly time for this favor order. This couple choose our large dessert dark chocolate truffles with a natural two piece kraft box tied with burnt sienna and lemon grass ribbons. Beautiful color combo! They choose St. Jude’s Childrens Research Hospital for their wedding donation which currently is a popular charity with our couples.
Cello Twist Favors – Earth Island Institute and The Animal Welfare Institute
Here’s another beautiful color combination with two interesting charities! This bride choose to have two ribbon colors – Lemon and Lemon Grass with Gold Twist wrapped foil truffles, very nice! Her charities were the Earth Island Institute/Dolphin Project and the Animal Welfare Institute. Many of our clients are now chosing animal welfare type charities for their wedding donation and this bride’s choice of favors are as beautiful as her choice of charities!
Jess and Carla – The Trevor Project
“…We absolutely LOVED having your truffles at our wedding. The guests all loved the favors and all talked about them for weeks afterwards. We loved the chance to choose a charity that was important to us and to raise awareness for the charity with our guests. It was the perfect choice for us! We absolutely LOVE what you guys do at Truffles for a Cause and would be happy to support it in any way we can.”
Jess and Carla’s wedding donation went to The Trevor Project which is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. The Trevor Project is determined to end suicide among LGBTQ youth by providing life-saving and life-affirming resources including our nationwide, 24/7 crisis intervention lifeline, digital community and advocacy/educational programs that create a safe, supportive and positive environment for everyone. The favors they selected were the Medium Mini Favors with Burt Sienna ribbons tied on our Kraft boxes.
March Awareness Month
March Awareness Month begins to get busier with several lesser known charities but never-the-less very worthy organizations. The American Diabetes Association has an alert day on the 27th, along with many single awareness days by other noteworthy charities.
1 – 31 National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month Prevent Cancer Foundation 1600 Duke Street, Suite 500 Alexandria, VA 22314 (800) 227-2732 (703) 886-4413 Fax sarah.abou@preventcancer.org www.preventcancer.org/colorectal Materials available Contact: Sarah Abou
1 – 31 National Nutrition Month® Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 120 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2000 Chicago, IL 60606-6995 nnm@eatright.org www.eatright.org/nnm Materials available Contact: Knowledge Center
1 – 31 Trisomy Awareness Month Support Organization for Trisomy 18, 13 & Related Disorders 2982 South Union Street Rochester, NY 14624-1926 (800) 716-SOFT -7638 (585) 594-4621 (585) 594-1957 Fax barbsoft@rochester.rr.com http://www.trisomy.org Materials available
5 – 11 National Sleep Awareness Week® National Sleep Foundation 1010 North Glebe Road, Suite 310 Arlington, VA 22201 (703) 243-1697 nsf@sleepfoundation.org www.sleepfoundation.org/event/national-s leep-awareness-week%C2%AE Materials available Contact: Jennifer Cowher Williams
8 World Kidney Day National Kidney Foundation 30 East 33rd Street New York, NY 10016 (800) 622-9010 (212) 889-2210 (212) 889-2310 Fax info@kidney.org www.kidney.org Materials available Contact: None designated
12 – 18 Brain Awareness Week Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives 505 Fifth Avenue, 6th Floor New York, NY 10017 (212) 401-1689 (212) 593-7623 Fax bawinfo@dana.org www.dana.org/brainweek Materials available Contact: Kathleen Roina
20 National Native American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day National Native American AIDS Prevention Center 720 South Colorado Blvd., Suite 650-S Denver, CO 80246 (720) 382-2244 (720) 382-2248 Fax www.nnaapc.org/news/awareness-day.htm Materials available Contact: None designated
25 – 31 National Tsunami Awareness Week National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service Office of Climate, Water, and Weather Services 1325 East West Highway, Room 9462 Silver Spring, MD 20910 (301) 713-1677 x124 deborah.jones@noaa.gov www.tsunami.gov Materials available Contact: Deborah Jones
27 American Diabetes Alert Day American Diabetes Association 1701 North Beauregard Street Alexandria, VA 22311 (800) DIABETES (342-2383) (703) 549-1500 (703) 549-6995 Fax askada@diabetes.org www.diabetes.org/in-my-community/program s/alert-day Materials available Contact: Local Chapters
24 World Tuberculosis Day Stop TB Partnerhsip (Secretariat) World Health Organization HTM/STB/TBP 20, avenue Appia CH-1211 Geneva 27 SWITZERLAND, +(41) 22 791 2690 +(41) 22 791 4886 Fax stoptbinfo@who.int www.stoptb.org/events/world_tb_day Materials available Contact: None designated
18 – 24 National Poison Prevention Week Poison Prevention Week Council P.O. Box 1543 Washington, DC 20013 (703) 894-1858 (703) 683-2812 Fax wells@aapcc.org www.poisonprevention.org/poison.htm Materials available Contact: Holly Wells
10 National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Office on Women’s Health U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 200 Independence Avenue SW, Room 728 E Washington, DC 20201 (202) 690-7650 (202) 401-4005 Fax www.womenshealth.gov/nwghaad/ Materials available Contact: Monique Claggett-Davis
5 – 9 National School Breakfast Week School Nutrition Association 120 Waterfront Street, Suite 300 National Harbor, MD 20745 (800) 877-8822 (301) 686-3100 (301) 686-3115 Fax servicecenter@schoolnutrition.org www.schoolnutrition.org/nsbw Materials available Contact: Laura Maynard
1 – 31 Workplace Eye Wellness Month Prevent Blindness America 211 West Wacker Drive, Suite 1700 Chicago, IL 60606 (800) 331-2020 (312) 363-6001 (312) 363-6052 Fax info@preventblindness.org www.preventblindness.org Materials available Contact: PBA Consumer and Patient Hotline
1 – 31 Save Your Vision Month American Optometric Association 243 North Lindbergh Boulevard, First Floor St. Louis, MO 63141 (800) 365-2219 (314) 991-4100 (314) 991-4101 Fax mcbryson@aoa.org www.aoa.org/x5072.xml Materials available Contact: Cathy Bryson
1 – 31 National Endometriosis Awareness Month Endometriosis Research Center World Headquarters 630 Ibis Drive Delray Beach, FL 34444 (800) 239-7280 (561) 274-0931 Fax askerc@endocenter.org www.endocenter.org Materials available Contact: None designated
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – Danny’s Promise
We receive many wedding donations for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as shown in our last post in which we displayed the beautiful color combination of navy blue ribbon with the gold twist wrapped foil favors. These favor donations were for St. Jude. If you follow our blog you will realize that the charities we donate to are really the center of our business. We thought that we would give a little history (with the help of St. Jude), of the founder of this marvelous children’s hospital - Danny Thomas. Danny’s prayer and vision are the reason why the St. Jude Children’s Hospital exists today. Thank you Danny…
More than 70 years ago, Danny Thomas, then a struggling young entertainer with a baby on the way, visited a Detroit church and was so moved during the Mass, he placed his last $7 in the collection box. When he realized what he’d done, Danny prayed for a way to pay the looming hospital bills. The next day, he was offered a small part that would pay 10 times the amount he’d given to the church. Danny had experienced the power of prayer.
Two years later, Danny had achieved moderate acting success in Detroit, but he was struggling to take his career to the next level. Once again, he turned to the church. Praying to St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of hopeless causes, Danny asked the saint to “help me find my way in life, and I will build you a shrine.”
His career took a turn for the better, and soon he moved his family to Chicago to pursue career offers. A few years later, at another turning point in his life, Danny visited a church and remembered his pledge to St. Jude. Again he prayed to St. Jude and repeated his pledge to build a shrine to the saint if he would show him the way.
In the years that followed, Danny’s career flourished through films and television, and he became an internationally known entertainer. He remembered his pledge to build a shrine to St. Jude.
In the early 1950s, Danny began discussing with friends what concrete form his vow might take. Gradually, the idea of a children’s hospital, possibly in Memphis, Tennessee, took shape. In 1955, Danny Thomas and a group of Memphis businessmen who had agreed to help support his dream seized on the idea of creating a unique research hospital devoted to curing catastrophic diseases in children. More than just a treatment facility, this would be a research center for the children of the world.
Danny started raising money for his vision of St. Jude in the early 1950s. By 1955, the local business leaders who had joined his cause began area fundraising efforts, supplementing Danny’s benefit shows that brought scores of major entertainment stars to Memphis. Often accompanied by his wife, Rose Marie, Danny crisscrossed the United States by car, sharing his dream and raising funds at meetings and benefits. The pace was so hectic that Danny Thomas and his wife once visited 28 cities in 32 days. Although Danny Thomas and his friends raised the money to build the hospital, they now faced the daunting task of funding its annual operation.
To solve this problem, Danny, of Lebanese decent, turned to his fellow Americans of Arabic-speaking heritage. Believing deeply that these Americans should, as a group, thank the United States for the gifts of freedom given their parents, Danny also felt the support of St. Jude would be a noble way of honoring his immigrant forefathers who had come to America.
Danny’s request struck a responsive chord. In 1957, 100 representatives of the Arab-American community met in Chicago to form ALSAC® with a sole purpose of raising funds for the support of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Since that time, with national headquarters in Memphis and regional offices throughout the United States, ALSAC has assumed full responsibility for all the hospital’s fundraising efforts, raising hundreds of millions annually through benefits and solicitation drives among Americans of all ethnic, religious and racial backgrounds. Today, ALSAC is the nation’s second largest health-care charity* and is supported by the efforts of more than 1 million volunteers nationwide.
Through striking improvements in the care of pediatric leukemias and numerous forms of solid tumors, St. Jude—which now has a daily operating cost of $1.7 million—has brought about improved health care for children all over the world. St. Jude’s physicians and scientists have pioneered treatments that have helped push the overall survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent when the hospital opened in 1962 to 80 percent today.
From a promise of “Help me find my way in life, and I will build you a shrine” to the fulfillment of his dream, Danny lived to see his little hospital become an international beacon of hope for the catastrophically ill children of the world. The founder of St. Jude and ALSAC died on February 6, 1991, just two days after joining patients, parents and employees to celebrate the hospital’s 29th anniversary. He was laid to rest in a family crypt at the Danny Thomas/ALSAC Pavilion on the grounds of the hospital. On July 12, 2000, his wife, Rose Marie, passed away and now lies with her beloved husband in the hospital’s Memorial Garden. Today, their children, Marlo, Terre and Tony, carry on their parents’ work and remain a driving force in fulfilling their father’s mission. Danny Thomas is gone, but his dream lives on.
