The Craft Center, which has many free events throughout the semester wanted to do something a little different from average this holiday season.
Lace, baubles and stuffed animals were sold in order for the buyer to customize their animal to make Christmas a little more cheerful for hospitalized children. This Craft Center event raised money to buy Christmas presents for the Stony Brook Children’s Hospital on Tuesday, Nov. 29.
Kate Schwarting and Marketa Forstova-Horton, program coordinator interns at the Craft Center, organized the fundraising event, dubbed “Stuffed Animal Makeover,” to buy these presents.
“We hope to start a tradition,” and “get out of what we normally do,” Forstova-Horton said. That was the big picture in mind when conceiving and implementing this fundraiser. The two coordinators agreed that it was important to note that events like the open craft studio have been happening for years, but this event was different. “We wanted to give back to the community,” Schwarting said.
This idea that the fundraiser tried to involve more than Stony Brook was essential. The Craft Center put out an open call for stuffed animal donations, and people obliged. The two interns said that there were at least 500 donated animals. The makeover took what the community gave and made it into something that could help others.
It took weeks of planning, the pair said. It took a lot of time to tag each animal with the appropriate price tag. Not only that, but the actual decorations had to be prepared. There was lace to be cut, buttons to collect, and other, similar, decorations required to make each animal an individual creation.
The goal is really to make this type of event happen each semester. “We want to pick a charity on Long Island,” Forstova-Horton said.
The current charity, the Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, would be the recipient of the $350.55 raised. That’s a pretty substantial sum, considering the stuffed animals cost between $.50 and $3.00.
This money is going to buy presents from a wish list from the hospital. The wish list was received by the interns from the hospital via email. “They [the hospital] were appreciative” of the offer of charity, said Forstova-Horton.
They emailed the wish list right back after the request was sent in, the interns said.
The real surprise, however, isn’t that the hospital will be receiving a donation. The real surprise is “how much we’re able to donate,” Schwarting said.
The two interns said they were a tad worried they would be understaffed, but their intense preparation and volunteers from student life alleviated the fear and created a nice place for the stuffed animal buyers to decorate.
Both Forstova-Horton and Schwarting believe the event turned out quite well. It was a “nice atmosphere,” Schwarting said.
The funds will be used to purchase gifts sent out by the hospital, and Schwarting and Forstova-Horton will deliver it to the lobby of the hospital for the children.
With any luck, the work these two have accomplished will continue. They hope to repeat it as a big event for fundraising every semester. It is a far step from open craft nights, and the duo’s hard work paid off for Stony Brook Hospital.
