Stocking Success

79 WubbaNubs

On Christmas Eve, Jake, the girls and I delivered 79 WubbaNubs and 45 $25 gift cards to the NICU at St. Francis Medical Center. The girls and I will make another trip, probably next week, after the rest of the stragglers arrive. :)

I was overwhelmed by the success of this project. I got a late start on it. I knew we couldn't afford to fill the stocking with enough stuff for every potential baby in the NICU, so I put the word out hoping we'd get enough. I would have been happy with 25 WubbaNubs and 25 gift cards. Instead, we got so much more.

• I knew we'd get plenty of the more common WubbaNubs, so I focused on some of the harder to find ones. I found a place that had the retired penguin WubbaNub but I couldn't figure out how to purchase them from their website. I emailed Bluebird Childcare to find out how to order them and told them why I was collecting WubbaNubs. In turn, they donated 9 WubbaNubs to the cause.
• A friend of mine from Oregon recruited a group of friends to help and they raised enough money for 15 WubbaNubs and 11 gift cards.
• A friend of mine from Jr. High loved the idea and so did her daughter, who is now a 7th grader at the school where her mother and I met. It turned out that all three 7th grade religion classes at St. Elizabeth Seton Middle School decided they wanted to help out. They held a bake sale before the middle school basketball game and raised $250 for gift cards.
• The owner of Ahh Goo noticed multiple orders being sent to my house. She called one of my friends who had ordered and asked her what was going on. When she found out what they were for, she sent 2 herself with a lovely note.
• Cloth Diaper Outlet threw in two extras with the 15 my friend ordered.
• Then there was the email I received from the CEO/Founder of WubbaNub. The owner of Ahh Goo emailed her about Justice's stocking. The founder then emailed me and asked when would be a good time to call. I was shocked. We spoke on the phone and she asked me how many WubbaNubs I was hoping to get. I told her I was hoping to have enough for one for every bed in the NICU and I already had twice that amount. She decided she would send 25, one for each bed, and committed to sending that amount in future years as well.
• Friends from elementary school, Jr. High, High School, and college, former coworkers, online friends, friends of family members, and church members all contributed.

Gift cards in envelopes decorated by D&G.

It was way bigger than I could have hoped for. The response has been so great we are going to set up a non-profit organization for future years.

Again, thank you to everyone!

P.S. We've set up a Facebook page for Justice's Stocking. http://www.facebook.com/justicesstocking