BEADS OF COURAGE...

This afternoon my local ISGB chapter (Star of the North) got together to make purple heart beads for Beads of Courage. Check out the website if you haven't heard of them. Especially read the Stories of Courage page.

Here's Beads of Courage's description of the program..."Beads of Courage® is a resilience-based intervention designed to support and strengthen the protective resources in children coping with serious illness. Through the program children tell their story using colorful beads as meaningful symbols of courage that commemorate milestones they have achieved along their unique treatment path"

The purple heart beads are given to children who are celebrating the completion of chemotherapy. Children in treatment are given beads all along the way for each step they have to take...different beads for different treatments. Some children end up w/ tons of beads strung up on yards & yards of string. They're so proud of them... they provide something tangible they can use to tell about their experience. They remember what each & every one of them was for, too!

Here's a video on YouTube about Beads of Courage. The Beads of Courage program is branching out beyond cancer patients... Here's another video on another site for heart patients. Touching.

We had a great time making beads together @ Malcolm Potek's studio... we were really productive, too! When you've got one single mission, purple hearts, it's easy to crank them out... fun to decorate each of them a little bit differently. I guess I'm good @ making hearts, because I somehow became the heart tutor, LOL. I just have a really cool shaping technique, I guess, it was fun to share how I do it. Funny, since I'm the newbie of the group. :o)

It was a good day. Feels REALLY good to do these for the kids. I'm going to start making some on my own to donate, too.

I need to buy some purple glass. :o)