THANK YOU COLUMBIA!!
7,999 Fuzzy Stuffed Critters were shipped off this evening to Operation Give Headquarters in Salt Lake City, and then it's off to KUWAIT CITY. It's a long journey, but they were packed with love today by MANY MANY caring folks. More details soon, with photos and video!
 | You know those cute little stuffed animals you collected in the 90's? Or maybe someone gave you one during a hospital stay years ago? And for whatever reason you've kept the little guys around. Maybe they're in a box in the attic? Perhaps they're keeping watch on a shelf in your guest room? And if you're like me, they're not getting the kind of love they SHOULD be getting. How sad for them when they could be in the little hands of a child in Afghanistan or Iraq. Our soldiers often encounter children while on their missions in both countries. Your relatively unloved Beanie Babie can help warm the heart of both a soldier and a child as you give them this tool to create a peaceful connection during a scary time. |
 Not only will we be collecting Beanie Babies, but we are also taking this opportunity to provide something especially for our soldiers. The word in the press is that morale is DOWN, so a hand-written thank you from a stranger would be an amazing gift to include with your Beanies. Also, we'll be accepting new items such as chapstick, sunscreen, comic books, cds, AA batteries, frisbees, new socks and other fun and thoughtful items for our men and women in uniform. These items will be sorted in the packing process, so feel free to include them with your beanies. Please note: these items will NOT reach our soldiers before Christmas, so if you want to be festive, think Valentine's Day...otherwise, just sincere thanks, well wishes and thoughtful items will do the trick. |
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Kennel Keepers (as of 11/19/09)
The following locations will have drop-off kennels for your beanies. Please thank them for participating - without them this project would not be possible!
South Paw Acres - 3330 Gillespie Bridge Road - 446-2733 |
Jennifer Roberts
Related Links
http://www.anysoldier.com/WhatToSend.cfm#BeanieBabies
Wednesday, Dec 16
Thanks to KFRU for letting me sneak on the air this morning for one more shameless appeal to their listeners.
On a more logistical note, Boone Landing is READY for FRIDAY!! If anyone out there wants to drop by, Friday is COUNTING and SHIPPING day.Here is the schedule:
10amIn the rec room, all collected items will be sorted into the following categories: stuff for soldiers, non-beanie toys, beanies.
Sunday, Dec 13
It was a busy weekend- we had an open house at the studio and in ONE day 274 Beanies were delivered to us!! Some of those came by chance during a stop to Eastgate when the
check-out gal caught me as I stopped in to buy some hot chocolate mix and she said, "Hey, aren't you the Beanie Girl"? (ok, she really said Beanie Woman but I prefer Beanie Girl if I must be so-named...) Anyhow, there was a lady there who said she had too many in her
car to fit in the kennel. What great timing! We just loaded them in the car right there. She said she had thought about donating them for years but was waiting for the right opportunity and
she liked this one. It was a great way to start the day on Saturday.
And over the weekend these pics came in. Keep sending those pics!
And, isn't THIS interesting, someone from a world record firm contacted me on Friday. I don't know how they heard about it but it looks like they will honor our attempt. So we'll submit our
collection to both Guinness and this firm. The only problem is, whose collection is it "for the record"? It's not mine! It's the city's! I wonder if we can list it as such? This calls for some deeper research...
And thanks to those special people who have emailed to volunteer their services this week... I'll be putting you to work VERY soon! More help is needed, particularly on Friday, Dec 18th (tentative, we'll set it in stone very shortly...)
And...
Thank you Elyse Pickle from KOMU- we can't wait to see the Beanies on TV!!
And attention school principals!! Just a few more days left- challenge your kids to each find 5 unloved beanies before Wednesday - they're out there and they need
new homes! Let OPERATION BEANIE BABIE RESCUE: THE FINAL STRETCH begin TODAY!
Thursday, Dec 10
Thursday, Dec 10
Also, all you Kennel Keepers out there, can you send me pictures of your Beanie populations? I'd love to put more online! I'll try to buzz all around town tomorrow to
see how everyone is doing this week.
Wednesday, Dec 9
Saturday, Dec 5
And be sure to watch for an article in the Missourian these next few days for a story featuring Shepard Elementary's beanie efforts...as I understand it Mrs. Down's kindergarten class
counted almost 500 beanies...talk about hands on learning!
Wednesday, Dec 2
And, thank you to The Add Sheet who SO generously is donating a full page ad every Wednesday until we're done! I've have the little jingle for the Add Sheet going in my head all day!
Today at Shepard I found a few packs of baby wipes for the soldiers - thank you for those - lets see if we can get more stuff like that to magically appear with the Beanies. CHAPSTICK CHAPSTICK CHAPSTICK would be great too!
Tuesday, Dec 1
What a busy last couple of days...in a nutshell- we got a few more kennel keepers over the holiday weekend - Precious Hearts out on Ballenger Rd., Prenger's and Kinkaed's in Centralia. It is SO great to have
a whole other town involved! And I have a hunch the Beanie population greatly outnumbers the human one in Centralia - can't wait to see how many come out of there...thanks to Dave at Westlakes for
coordinating that effort. And we have ANOTHER town joining in - Quincy, IL - thanks to Kurt Jansen's dad who owns a bar up there. He has dedicated a little space in the bar to Beanies and has already been on the
radio I understand.
Tuesday, Nov 24
Monday, Nov 23
Today Meara and I hit the airwaves with David Lile on KFRU. So, Meara was a bit late for school and when I dropped her off, Mrs. Malicoat in the office called her over to show her that they already had a bin and a bag full of
Beanies! GO SHEPARD! After that, my friend Kurt and I cleaned, decorated and delivered beanie rescue kennels all over town. THANK YOU KURT! In the process,
Boone Landing agreed to be our storage and packing day facility just like before, so that is a big problem solved and Jamie, the activity director seems
very happy to help. We still could use a few more kennels (remember, we're just borrowing them!) We need one for Columbia Catholic, Boone Landing and American National Insurance. I hate to use boxes, but
that's not a horrible thing if we don't get a few more...
All in all, a great day! Now for a few days off for Thanksgiving. Hoping those Mizzou students bring some back from their breaks for Dr. Langdon!
Thursday, Nov 19
Tuesday, Nov 17
Tonight I finally had a chance to research into just what it takes to set a Guinness World Record...wow, well, it is a BIG deal! It take a while to get
your idea registered, so we won't have confirmation on just weather we're even eligible, but I vote we go for The World's Largest Collection of Beanie Babies, document the heck out of it
and then submit it. From what I found online, (I don't have a book, if YOU do, please look it up!) there seems to be no current category or record set for this.
SO... LET'S GO FOR IT!!
Sunday, Nov 15
They should be done tomorrow (gotta love Millers!!) I've ordered 25 and hoping we'll need to order more, but at $2/each we'll start with 25...
Operation Beanie Babie Rescue is sponsored by Moonshadow Studio with
assistance from Operation Give
and directed by Jennifer Roberts with much help from Renee Munns, Kurt Jansen and Aubrey Rowden. We look forward to hearing from you and finding your beanies a new loving home! And if you
have some time over the next few weeks and want to join our crew, we'd love to have you!
573-268-3321
jen@moonshadowstudio.com
ONE MORE DAY!! All of you Beanie hold-outs, today is the day! Just think of all the SMILES you'll be responsible for! TWO for every Beanie (the soldier and the kid!)
Friday- Dec 18
BOONE LANDING ON KEENE ST.
SCHEDULE12pm
Boone Landing residents will have baskets where they will gather 10 Beanies in the rec room, pass through the person who will be the "Counter" sitting in the doorway between the rec room and the hall where the tree is. The Counter will log the Beanies on the Official Beanie Counting Sheet, and then the volunteer will place them around the Christmas tree.
We will save around 200 Beanies for the final bit of counting to be done after school gets out.
I'm not sure how long this will take, but when we are done, (and in the meantime while the counting is going on) other volunteers will be taping and labeling boxes preparing them for the Beanies.
The counter is not to share the number with ANYONE!! This will make it fun for when others arrive after school to witness the final count.
4:15
The final count begins. The children who have come after school can count the last batch, and then we will announce the final tally and take some pictures of the Beanies under the tree with all the
kids and volunteers.
5:00
The Beanies go into their boxes!
6:30
Fed Ex comes to start them on their long journey to Kuwait City!
Oh my gosh the Beanie Surge has begun!! Thank you KOMU for a fantastic story! Here it is in case anyone out there missed it: KOMU Beanie Story. If you click on the
play button in the Video On Demand box you can watch the story. The kids' comments are PRICELESS!
Sam & Lauren at Millcreek - this is just a SMALL sampling of what they've collected over there!
The collection at Ridgeway Elementary - love to see that stuff for the soldiers!KEEP 'EM COMIN'!
Friday, Dec 11
Bunnies and Lizards and Frogs- OH MY!!
SHEPARD HAS 1014 BEANIES!
I couldn't wait to share this note from Paula Carter who had just heard about Op Beanie Rescue. She really put into words the WHOLE point of what we're doing:
"This is a fabulous project. My brother served in the Air Force in Iraq and is stateside now, but still of age to return.
I would be SO happy for our stuffed animal overflow to go to children in a terrible place with terrible stress all around them.
I remember hearing about kids in Gaza during the Israeli bombings, and someone on the radio said they had not experienced a quiet night in EIGHT YEARS. I have a 7-year-old daughter.
To imagine trying to get my kids to sleep each night in the midst of a war zone just made me weep as a mother. Afghanistan is so poor they don’t even have roads in many places. If a stuffed animal brings a little one there just a moment’s refuge, it’s totally worth it."
Just a big thank you to the Beanie Fairy who hung two bags full on the doorknob to my studio! What a great way to start the day!
FRONT PAGE NEWS!
Be sure to check out the fantastic story by Michelle Kanaar on the FRONT PAGE (and page 6a!) of the Missourian! Here's a link: Beanies In The News.
OK PEOPLE!! ONE WEEK LEFT!
Time to start asking the neighbors and your friends at work and at church this weekend! I'm guessing we have around 3000, but it could be more! Time to KICK IT IN GEAR!!
Just wanted to share this pic from Christine Sayers after their FIRST day collecting Beanies at Columbia Independent School:
Welcome to the fold of Kennel Keepers Smithton Middle School & Show Me Gymnastics! I'm SO happy to report that the Builder's Club, a Kiwanis International youth program, is heading this up at Smithton where there are over 1,100 students. That's
a lot of Beanie Potential. Thanks to Jon Thornhill for getting both places on board. AND JUST LIKE THAT WE HAVE 20 KENNEL KEEPERS!
The Beanies are Coming! The Beanies are Coming! Here is a pic from Westlakes:
Speaking of publicity, today Kristen from KOMU met me at Westlake's for an interview. Hopefully it will air soon... After the interview I headed to Eastgate Foods- I had heard
that the kennel there was empty so I brought an extra sign and a couple "magnet" beanies (to attact others you know?), and surprise! Someone had dropped off their WHOLE collection! It must
have been nearly 100. That's 100 little smiles! And 100 big ones too from the soldiers. I would love to hear from all of our kennel keepers to see how they're doing as I'm finding it hard to check on the ones outside of my "bubble".
Oops- almost forgot - a big thanks to John and Gene of my Kiwanis club! John twisted the arms of his grandaughter to give up a big bagful and Gene put me in touch with his neighbor who -get this- has HUNDREDS for us!!
HOW EXCITING!
This weekend Meara and I are thinking of doing a Beanie & Battery Roundup in our neighborhood. Saturday we'll put fliers in the doors letting everyone know that we'll be collecting Beanies and AA Batteries (for the soldiers) on Sunday and to
call us if they would like their Beanies "rescued" from their bins and other hiding places, or if they have extra unused AA batteries they'd like to donate.
We'll keep everyone posted here as to how that goes in case anyone would like to try something similar...
Before I sign off tonight, a big thank you to all the great folks helping out and also to all the generous ones who have given up their Beanies.
I know I said I wasn't going to write until after turkey day, but too much happened today!
I am overwhelmed by all of the developments on the Beanie front! First, thank you to Dave at Westlakes who is really doing his best to get
our project going in Centralia! And Westlake's kennel is already almost half full (and it's a big one, and that was just ONE donation!)
Next, hooray for Shepard School - they are challenging all of the other schools to compare numbers every Monday to see who is collecting the MOST Beanies!
I will post those numbers on here as well so that everyone can see how they're doing...AND their partners in education, 3M is joining the ranks as a Kennel Keeper!
Thank you 3M!
And last but not least, I just got word from Dave Munns at American National Insurance (by Buckingham's) that a VERY generous woman gave 4 blue recycling bags FULL
of Beanies! I know she worked hard collecting them and to part with them ALL AT ONCE - wow- there's going to be a lot of smiles over in Afghanistan!!
We are SO busy during the days I have to remind myself to write in the blog at night! Today Renee worked hard on fliers and signed up her dentist, Dr. Mallott as a kennel keeper while
I met with Mrs. Weaver, the principal of our neighborhood school, Shepard Elementary (GO STALLIONS!)! Shortly after our visit Mrs. Weaver called me to say they were SO excited about Operation Beanie Babie
Rescue and that one of their students is going to speak about it at an assembly before Thanksgiving break. Our daughter Meara who goes to Kindergarten at Shepard is
very happy that her school is wholeheartedly taking part!
After visiting Shepard I remembered we were out of dog food so off to Westlake's I went. While in line to pay I thought, "hmmm... I wonder..." Five minutes later we
had another new kennel keeper! And that makes TEN!!
Aubrey reported for a bit of Beanie Duty today as well, delivering posters to Dr. Langdon on the Mizzou campus. As it turned out,
Dr. Langdon was her own professor in college - such a small world. Dr. Langdon is spreading the word at Mizzou and hopefully her students will
smuggle their mom's Beanie's out of the house while on Thanksgiving Break.
Tomorrow I'll be visiting with a VERY important prospect...crossing my fingers that they join in...Also tomorrow I'll be filling out the forms
for Guinness World Records. It's something to make it a bit more exciting, I hear a certain young man at Millcreek Elementary is determined to get us in the book! YOU GO SAM!
We got another school today, Mill Creek Elementary! Thanks to Renee Munns, a Millcreek mom who is also working to sign up her dentist,
her church AND Tuesday Morning who actually sells Beanies for $3 (I didn't even know they still MADE Beanies!
I am so not alone in this effort! Also, today we got on David Lile's schedule for an interview on KFRU at 8:45 this coming Monday morning.
I'm hoping the interview will spread the word and that we'll get a few more Kennel Keepers... And thank you Angela from Zootoo - working on
another school for us (I won't mention specific places until they're on board officially) Good luck Angela, can't wait to hear back!
Today was the first real day of announcing the project. And that was only on Facebook and Zootoo.
As a result we have made many friends today - Kelli Thomas who ON A SUNDAY (way impressive!) got Ridgeway School on board as a Kennel Keeper
and a few other friends immediately re-posted our facebook announcement to their friends. And we have three more schools that
hopefully we will hear from tomorrow (thank you interested parents- you know who you are!)
And Sue at Mizzou is going to make her office a Kennel Keeper and ask all of her students to collect Beanies while home on Thanksgiving
Break (fantastic idea, eh?) And she has her own kennel, even better!
There is also talk of a downtown window display near North Village Studios, so we will need some Beanies FAST for that...
And I don't want to forget one of my brides, Amy Ramatowski, who took a BIG part of her day last week and brought 6 kennels to Artlandish and a
big tub of beanies!! Those beanies will be divided up into all of the kennels so that they don't start out empty. Two in each and with any luck they
will MULTIPLY!
Tonight I also ordered posters for our Kennel Keepers:
