Crafting for Charity

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CHA will be working with Misercordia, an organization that supports individuals with developmental disabilities in maximizing their level of independence and self-determination within an environment that fosters spirituality, dignity, respect and enhancement of quality of life. They support more than 600 children and adults through community awareness, education and advocacy. CHA will be hosting a silent auction during the trade show benefiting Misercordia. Following the trade show and Craft SuperShow, Misercordia will “harvest” the shows accepting product donations from companies wishing to donate the product instead of shipping it home.

CHA is also working with ConKerr Cancer, an organization started in 2002 when Cindy Kerr’s son was diagnosed with cancer. She began making pillowcases to brighten up his hospital room and to put a smile on his face. Since then the pillowcase project, A Case for Smiles, has provided over 210,000 pillowcases from volunteers across North and South America. ConKerr Cancer will be inviting people to sew pillowcases at their booth #105 on the SuperShow floor to reach their goal of creating 600 pillowcases. These pillowcases will help the Chicago chapter meet their goal of 9,000 pillowcases that will go to 5 Chicago area hospitals.

Another organization that CHA is partnering with is Crops of Luv. The Crops of Luv™ organization was founded to create memory books for children that have been granted wishes from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Their primary purpose is to preserve the memories created during these wonderful experiences to the wish recipients and their families. The proceeds from the SuperCrop silent auction will benefit Crops of Luv and their efforts to create these memory books.

In addition to giving back to the Chicagoland community, CHA Member, Westcott will be holding a Benefit and Silent Auction for the Wyland Foundation. The Wyland Foundation is dedicated to promoting, protecting, and preserving the world’s oceans, waterways, and marine life. The foundation encourages environmental awareness through education programs, public arts projects, and community events. The event will be featuring original works by Wyland as well as 30 of the top CHA designers. This is a high awareness issue at the moment with the Gulf Oil spill and because of this Westcott felt compelled to work with Wyland for this cause.

Scrapbook Royalty is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization that has partnered with CHA to host the SuperCrop Scrapbooking events, as well as CHA members like Westcott for the Wyland Benefit and silent Auction. All told, Scrapbook Royalty raised nearly $300,000 for various causes through unique scrapbooking and crafting events, raffles, and silent auctions. The group also promotes "creative" opportunities for crafters to give. One hundred percent of the net proceeds are donated to the worthy causes the group supports.

“CHA is very happy to be working with these organizations to give back to the community that we feel we are part of,” said Steve Berger, President and CEO, CHA. “After hosting our show for over 30 years we always look for a way to say thank you to the Chicagoland community each time we are in town.”

ABOUT THE CRAFT & HOBBY ASSOCIATION

The Craft & Hobby Association is an international not-for-profit organization consisting of member companies engaged in the manufacture, distribution and retail sales of products in the near $30 billion U.S. craft and hobby industry. For more information about CHA, to find a craft project, or to find a local craft retailer visit www.craftplace.org. For more about the CHA Craft SuperShow visit www.craftsupershow.com.