Natural disasters, such as the the wildfires raging in California, often devastate. Volunteers at the Morton branch of the Midwest Food Bank spend hours making relief boxes to send to those affected year-round. Each box contains food — often a dire need at these times — and a hand-made card.
This January, a contingent of Bloomington-Normal artists is continuing a multiyear tradition to get everything from fine art to kiddo-created cards in several hundred of those boxes for 2025. Community members can join through at-home participation or one of the many card-making events in town this month.
Cards of Hope started in 2020 — though it didn’t have a name yet — because Bloomington-based artist Angel Ambrose sought a hands-on project to benefit the Midwest Food Bank. She said contributing cards for the boxes felt like a way to marry her passions of art and volunteerism.
“We've made hundreds and hundreds of cards that can go in the box to encourage people,” Ambrose said.
That idea came two years after a less successful attempt to make an impact through donations from sales of artist trading cards. The trading card project required a lot of work on Ambrose’s end—she had to take every single one and turn the paint someone had put on it into fine art.
With the cards, she could explore new art avenues beyond painting and get the whole community involved in the process from start to finish.
To Ambrose, a piece of white folded card stock has become a symbol of “love, encouragement and acknowledgment.” She said she sees those messages coming not only from the cards when they reach the families’ hands, but from the process of making them — from start to finish.
“It starts with somebody taking the time to fold the cards,” she said, adding that this year, it was a friend from church who sat and folded and folded and folded. “Then they will go into the hands of the people making the cards [who are] saying, ‘we see you, we care about you, we acknowledge what you're going through.’”
Scope of impact
On any given day, Midwest Food Bank Volunteer Coordinator Brittany Parker said the nonprofit has around 2,000 disaster relief packages on hand at its Morton site. The cards, which Midwest Food Bank gets donations of throughout the year from Bloomington and beyond, can add a personal touch to what can be a technical process, Parker said.
“To know that somebody made this whom I don't [think I] probably will ever meet, you know that somebody made this for me, that this was packed by hands that were just very giving and helpful, and it kind of brings a warm humanity to that disaster response,” she said, providing herself as the hypothetical recipient.
At the end of January, the Cards of Hope notes will make their way to Morton to be packed into boxes alongside hundreds of others.
A growing project
Fellow artist Brian Simpson coined “Cards of Hope” in 2022, Ambrose said, which she pointed out was also the second year of the campaign. She said it felt like a natural fit for what she and others were doing. She said Simpson was also the person who encouraged her to expand the project and let others host card-making days.
Now, the Bloomington-based arts nonprofit Threshold to Hope spearheads Cards of Hope, and several other galleries, nonprofits and local businesses contribute. Nora Zaring, founder of the nonprofit, said she encourages everyone to partake in the card-marking.
“Sometimes people think that they have to have the perfect card to make, and they think ‘I don't have those skills,’” she said. “But really, all it is, is they just need to come in and put a little bit of something into the card that's a little bit of themselves, and something that's going to give some cheer to somebody else.”
Ambrose said she is grateful to everyone who is promoting the movement.
“I think what happened is that people saw the ability to do something,” she said. “You know, times are tough, and when you see something simple you can do to use your time, talent, treasure, to do something that makes someone else's life better, I think that hits a soft spot in most of us.”
Area artist Mare Darling has been participating in Cards of Hope since its inception, and she had one of her children's arts programs contribute just under 40 cards — not including the additional ones she’s made since.
“It's really neat to even see pictures of the past, of the packages going out,” she said. “And it's just, it's heartwarming to know that I can use my gift to help somebody else.”
Given recent tornado scares across Central Illinois and the 2013 tornado that wrecked many houses in Washington, Parker said Midwest Food Bank’s box packaging program has seen a boost too. She said many know what it’s like to lose their house and their belongings.
“And so I do think that's kind of what drives people coming out,” to make cards or to pack boxes, she said.
A single group of volunteers can often pack 500 boxes in around 2 hours, Parker estimated, adding that “it's amazing what volunteers can do in response to [disasters] even somewhere that you know they don't know.”
Threshold to Hope is hosting card-making throughout January. Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Wednesdays from 6-8 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. at its studios at 200 W. Monroe St. in downtown Bloomington. Additional locations and times can be found here.
Every so often on WGLT, we feature community servants and unsung heroes working to make Bloomington-Normal a better place to live. If you have a suggestion for a More of That Please feature, you can email us at news@wglt.org.
