Thank you for your interest in the Memory Box Artist Program. We would love to have your group's participation
If your group prefers to give their boxes to hospitals in their own area, they can adopt a hospital and supply all the boxes that, that hospital will need. Marie would be happy to help you arrange that. However, we do have a lot of hospitals on our list, so it is possible that we have some in your area, that you could help with, until you decide how much interest your chapter has in continuing with the program. We do NOT want anyone to adopt a hospital for one year - and then leave the hospital with no support after they decide not to continue with the program. This is not fair to the hospital, and does not reflect well on the program.
One challenge that we have with large groups is that they want to provide boxes for a single hospital, but they only have one meeting a year dedicated to the program. As a result, the hospital has to wait until after the meeting to get any boxes, and then they may get more boxes than they can store at one time. For that reason, it may be more practical to ask if we have a hospital in your area. You can then donate some of the boxes to that hospital, and then send overflow boxes to other hospitals with immediate needs. Unfortunately most hospitals do not have the extra room to store and protect a large number of boxes at any one time.
We do NOT care about being given "credit" for the boxes. The only reason we exist is to make sure qualified hospitals are connected with individuals and groups that wish to create boxes for them, and to make sure that the boxes go to bereavement counselors that will take responsibility that the boxes get to the families they are created for. We track the number of boxes going to each hospital each month so that no one hospital is bombarded with boxes while others do not have any. Each time a new box is ready, Marie Gemmil is contacted, the member does generally not continue to send to the same hospital.
The boxes are delivered directly from you to the hospital. You don't even have to mention the program when you send the box. We only want to be there to make sure you boxes get to someone qualified to use them who will make sure they get to the families that need them.
To participate, contact Marie Gemmil to discuss hospitals in your area and how your group might participate.