1,000,000 Cards for Kids

December Salvation Army Donation

2011-01-27T09:24:00.000-08:00

Found this buried in my inbox. Sorry about the delay!

NYBBNUT has left a new comment on your post "United Methodist Children's Home Donation!":

Back in September I donated:
- 10,800 Sports cards
- 15 Baseball magazines
- 174 Plastic pages
I called the Salvation Army and they came and picked them up along with some clothes and other items.

East Tennessee Children's Hospital Pledge

2011-01-27T09:21:00.000-08:00

Got an email about a pending pledge. Keep it up!!!

Just wanted to let you know that I found out about this blog via the Collective Troll's blog.

I'm working on a donation to the East Tennessee Children's Hospital.

I've made contact with them and made arrangements on how they would best like them delivered.

I'm working on sorting them and hope to deliver them in about 2 weeks.

Keep up the good work.

Regards,

Mark

http://marksephemera.blogspot.com

United Methodist Children's Home Donation!

2010-11-04T04:31:00.001-07:00

From Ben G.

Donated in September

I donated four 800-count boxes of football and basketball cards from 2008-2009 to:

The United Methodist Children's Home

500 S. Columbia Drive

Decatur, GA 30030

I opened a ton of product that year and had nothing to do with all the duplicates. I like your idea about breaking them up into 50 count lots. I just put them all in a box and told the woman I gave them to to make a note to split them up because there were many duplicates. I included lots of Hawks/Falcons cards. I think your site is a great idea. I've donated at least 50,000 cards to the American Kidney foundation over the past few years. It was all junk wax era stuff that I was going to throw away.

Ben G.

You can view Ben's trade page here.

Nicaraguan Donation!

2010-05-17T04:29:00.000-07:00

From Randy K. -

"Doc, I read your blog several months ago and have been meaning to give some cards to kids. Well, I finally did it. At my church, a missionary from Nicaragua comes every year. We have a clothes and fund drive. This year I pulled 261 players from Central America, etc. and asked the missionary to take them back for the kids. Please add these to the total pledged. Thanks and may God bless you and all the kids in need."

Thank you very much for donating cards via your church for some Nicaraguan children in need.

Awesome!!

You can view Randy's trade page here.

Update

2010-04-15T04:35:00.000-07:00

I have received several emails from individuals who are thinking about donating their cards to children in need. To that, I say I am very thankful for those collectors willing to share their cards with those who are less fortunate.

When I started this idea, my inclination was to have the individual collectors donate their cards to a local hospital or charity, and not send them to me for distribution. If at all possible, I would still like to encourage that approach. I feel it would be a much more rewarding experience if the donating collectors experienced the feeling of helping a child first hand.

The idea of this blog remains as a source for people to find local charities/hospitals, and to use the packaging ideas, etc. mentioned in previous posts. I would also like to use this blog as a place for every donor to share their donation stories with the rest of the baseball card blogging community.

To date, I know the Collective Troll has donated cards to a local children's hospital, and maybe one day he will share his story with us.

If you'd like to pledge an amount of cards, I will update the pledge meter, and when you donate them, send an email telling your story. Then I will post your story and update the donation meter.

If anyone has additional ideas, I am all ears.

Thank you for reading.

FAQ Coming Soon

2009-12-01T10:11:00.000-08:00

I have spoken to a CPA based on some questions I have had from interested donors regarding charitable contributions and taxes. I hoped to have an FAQ up soon, and have it permanently linked on the sidebar.

In the meantime, I have begun thinning out my cards and getting them ready to donate.

So far, there have been several people interested in this concept, but no one has pledge an amount of cards to donate, yet.

If you didn't get that hint, how about someone pledge some cards so we can take that goose egg off the pledge/donation meter!!! You don't have to donate them until you are ready, but someone make a pledge! Maybe I need Jerry Lewis' help...

Suggestions on How to Package Donated Cards

2009-11-19T04:51:00.000-08:00

After some feedback from potential donors, I thought it would be a good idea to post some ideas on how to package your card donations. Here are some basic suggestions:

Divide your cards into lots of 50.
Make sure there are no doubles in each lot.
Provide as much brand and year variety as possible (There is nothing wrong with Bad Wax Era cards, so donate them!).
Try to include a few star players or HOFers if possible.
Seal the cards in plastic bags.
Place the lot bags into a cardboard box or plastic tub for the charitable organization to keep on site. Include your name and contact info on the box/tub, so the organization can contact you if they need more cards.
Consider the market in which you are donating. If the southern Florida area, try to include local teams (e.g., Marlins, Heat, Dolphins, Panthers, etc.).
No questionable/objectionable cards (e.g., Juicy Honey, Olivia, Garbage Pail Kids, etc., and please no 89 Fleer Billy Ripkens!).
Place the 1,000,000 Cards for Kids information card in each 50 card lot or as a sticker on the lot plastic bag.

I did a basic information card about 1,000,000 Cards for Kids, and I would appreciate it if they were included with each 50 card donation lot. I am not interested in personal acknowledgement, but I do think it is important that the children and parents know where the cards are coming from.

Therefore, I included the website address and a place for you to add your name and email address on the information card. Hopefully, we will get some feedback from children/parents to the website and/or email addresses, so we can post it on the blog.

If you are going to stick the information card onto or in the plastic bag, please email me for a template that holds 9 cards on one 8 ½ by 11-inch page. For sticker labels, you can find reasonably priced full sheet labels on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001QT4VA4), or your local office supply store. The Amazon link has 100 pages for around $12. That’s 900 labels you could make for up to 45,000 cards to donate!

Thank you for considering donating your unwanted cards, and please spread the word! There are a lot of us in this trading card blogosphere and we could put smiles on a lot of faces.

Why Pledge and Donate Your Cards

2009-11-18T03:53:00.000-08:00

You finally have something to do with all of those doubles and Bad Wax Era cards.
You can claim the fair market book value of the cards as an itemized deduction.
You can make more room in your closet and your collection for MORE CARDS!
You can help create new collectors of the greatest hobby ever!
You will put a smile on a child's face.

As this blog builds steam, I plan on putting helpful links on the right navbar, such as an FAQ. Already there are links to Children's Hospitals in the United States and worldwide orphanages. I also plan on contacting a CPA to determine what is and what is not proper for claiming card donations as itemized deductions.

I also plan on showcasing all of your donations, complete with your pictures and stories. All confirmed donators will have their blog added to the Hall of Fame, regardless if you donate 1 or 10,000 cards.

What I do need help with is creating html for a pledge meter to add to the right navbar. I'd also like to create a "card" with information about this movement to include with the donations to help spread the word.

If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know. If you'd like to be more hands on and work on the blog, leave a comment.

Also, cards should not be sent to me or any other blogger. Share the cards locally with your community's children in need.

Doc T

New Beginnings for Old Cards

2009-11-17T12:48:00.001-08:00

Thanks to the suggestion of a fellow collector, I will soon be starting this sister blog to help recruit collectors to pledge their unwanted cards to orphanages and children's hospitals.

I could not think of a better idea of what to do with all of those Bad Wax Era cards cluttering your closet. They'd be much better served scattered on the floor of a child who truly needs them.

More to come as this idea fleshes out.

Doc T