How To Hold A Card Shower
Activity Overview
What is the Card Shower Project?
The Card Shower Project​
is a (pending) 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that advocates for foster youth and families by providing a network for these individuals to be connected with the public. Their hope is to reach the eyes, ears, and hearts of people around the country through inspiring art and words. The Card Shower Project’s goal is to advocate the message “We care about what happens to you” to specific youth who are identified in the foster care/adoption triad as being “different” or non­traditional in identity. The Card Shower Project advocates for all non­traditional families and youth regardless of gender, race, age, religion, disability, marital status, ethnic background, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. Non­traditional families and "different" teens are a new growing minority in adoption. This group, which includes both LGBT and Secular families and teens, have longer wait times for placements than average traditional families, and often face barriers and harassment as part of the adoption and foster care process. What is a Card Shower?
A card shower is the organized sending of a large number of greeting cards to a single person or group. Generally, a greeting card shower allows loved ones who live far away to celebrate meaningful occasions despite distance. It is not a traditional “shower” in the sense of a bridal or baby shower ­­ "shower" is used in the sense of a literal "shower of cards.” A greeting card shower lets people share in the excitement of special occasions when they can't be there in person, and act as a way to lift the spirits of the shower recipient. For the Card Shower Project, the dedicated card showers are done for LGBT and Secular teens in foster care or awaiting adoption, as a simple gesture of kindness for youth who are in a difficult situation. The Card Shower project believes that a display of this kind of "pay it forward" kindness can generate a lot of support for those who are not able to speak up as loudly. Suggested Walkthrough
1. Pick a location and time for the event. As with most activities, you want to have this all arranged about two weeks ahead of time to give members time to plan around it and for you to spread the word. The location of a card shower is completely up to you and your participants, but you should keep in mind that the space will need to have the room and capacity to do both paper crafting and potentially computer­based graphic designing. This means that the space will need plenty of outlets and table space. If you think that a member’s house/apartment would serve well enough, that’s great! However, you should also consider if there is a reservable room on campus that could work even better, as campus rooms are usually better centralized for members to attend. 2. Reach out to your members and other potential participants. This should primarily be an internal activity, so reaching out to the existing membership through Facebook and email lists is preferable to general flyering and displays. However, you may want to approach your campus LGBT group and other potential allies to see if they are interested in helping out with the project. Regardless of how the outreach is done, it needs to be done consistently from between 10­14 days before the event date up until the day of. 3. Learn how to make cards. If you don’t already know how to construct greeting cards, there are a ton of resources online that can walk you through how to do so. Depending on the various talents of your members, some of the cards can be made with traditional papercrafting, while others can be designed with a variety of computer programs. Here are a handful of resources on how to make greeting cards that you can share with members and participants: ­ WikiHow ­ How To Make A Greeting Card ­
About.com ­ How To Make A Greeting Card (Software) ­
Better Homes And Gardens ­ Easy Greeting Cards To Make ­
eHow ­ How To Make Greeting Cards With Paper Cutouts ­
eHow ­ How To Design A Greeting Card (InDesign/Photoshop) ­
eHow ­ How To Make Greeting Cards With Word 4. Inform the national Secular Student Alliance and The Card Shower Project about your upcoming event. 5. Decide on Card Shower recipients. Once you select a teenager from the ​
listing on The Card Shower Project website​
to send a card to, you will be prompted to send an email requesting the address of the caseworker receiving the cards. 6. Gather necessary materials for the activity. The supplies for the project do not need to be expensive or extravagant. Members are likely to have a handful of unused craft supplies laying around that you can gather into a sort of potluck of materials. If there are still materials that need to be acquired, most crafting supplies are pretty cheap,and shouldn’t put dents in any wallets. You can consider delegating the task of bringing materials: for instance, designate one person to bring glue, another to bring colored pencils, another to bring construction paper, etc. What materials you will need depends on what kinds of cards you wind up making. If everyone is designing cards using software, you may just need a printer and a few power strips to accommodate computers. However, if people want to make cards by hand via papercraft, necessary materials could include construction paper, colored pencils, crayons, scissors, glue, glue sticks, glitter, or other miscellaneous crafting supplies. 7. Dedicate 1­2 hours to making the cards as a group. Be sure to take photos while this is going on, or specifically delegate the task to someone! Note that there are some very specific guidelines for what should and should not be in the cards: ­
Keep personal information minimal.​
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Only write your first name and the city and state you live in. If the card has too much personal identifying information, the card will not get to the teen’s hands. Contact between crafter and teen is prohibited. Keep in mind that the cards will be read by the caseworkers for appropriateness and identifiable information. It's important to keep this boundary intact between the crafter and teenager. ­
Think about phrasing and content.​
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Please refrain from writing things like " I hope you find a family" or "I hope you get adopted soon". We don't want to feel sorry for anyone: we want to lift them up. It is not their fault that they are in foster care. Many of these kids desperately miss their families, and may still be grieving the loss of their biological families. ­
Find a way to connect.​
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Take the time to read the teen’s profile, and look for details that you might have in common. Some crafters have written very inspirational messages by keeping the message simple. Good examples of this can be illustrated by using words of encouragement or sharing things you may have in common with the teen. " I like the Harry Potter book series too" or " I wanted to be a pilot too, when I grew up, it's funny I ended up going to school for art!" ­
Tell a joke.​
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Jokes can be a great idea for a card. However, keep in mind that these jokes need to stay within appropriate bounds, as the cards will be monitored for content by their caseworkers. 8. Clean up the work area. This is particularly important as paper crafting can get quite messy, and some universities will charge clubs if they leave reserved rooms in poor condition. 9. Mail the cards. Address the card to the designated caseworker for the teen(s) you have chosen, as they have agreed to receive these cards via The Card Shower Project. If you have multiple cards, you may send the cards loosely in a manila envelope, or the cards may be sent in the unsealed "card" envelope (as long as they are contained in a sealed manila envelope). 10. Inform the national Secular Student Alliance and the Card Shower Project about how the event went. Submit any pictures taken at the event along with a ​
Brag It Up​
form.. 11. Seek input from participants about how they felt about the event, and how it might be improved in the future. Consider using the ​
Event Reflection Guide​
provided on the Secular Student Alliance website.