craft hope » Kim

Special Delivery.

Kim — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 04:53:06 +0000

The day of delivery is finally upon us! After spending hours on Saturday night, loading the Uhaul truck and eventually my xB, until 11pm with 65,000 Project 8 donations (although 35+ boxes still did not make it in the uhaul or my car due to the fact we ran out of room).

Sunrise came rather quickly on Sunday morning, and a 5am wake-up call came even quicker. Did we even sleep? haha! No matter, we were ready to go!!! The above Uhaul picture is a 5am sunrise crowning through the treetops over the Project 8 Uhaul, all ready for departure! Apologies for no loading photos from the night before… it was pitch black and we were focused on loading more so than snapping photos. Work was to be done.

This is inside my xB, or “the box”…. Lots of boxes in the Box. Ah the Irony…. So anyway, I had loaded it up to the roof of my car, with a small peep hole for my rear view. However, weight and safety restrictions required me to unload several packages. Safety first.

The front passenger side of the car, which became interesting as boxes shifted around during commute. That manila envelope under my purse is filled with all the sweet letters and children illustrations that everyone sent, which are now being displayed in the administration hallways at IMMS.

So both boxes on wheels all loaded up and ready to go! So here we go!!

Goodbye Pensacola! IMMS OR BUST!!!

My view for 3 hours. Honk if you love Craft Hope!

We finally made it!! Safe and Sound! Everyone meet the Project 8 Uhaul Driver and the muscle behind the Shipping Department, my dear husband, Daniel Davion. I couldn’t have manage receiving heavy packages, loading/unloading and Uhaul transportation without his help and support! Thank your for being so patient with me, thank you for not thinking I had gone completely daft, and thank you for surrendering your man cave/garage to the Project, and thank you for taking care of the house, dinner, laundry and everything else, when I was logging in and counting donations. Without your help, well… It would not have been possible…
Many Thanks and Love… xoxoxo – K

The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies!

Let the Private Tour begin:

The Museum. IMMS to the Rescue! The container that you see under the sign, is actually what IMMS uses to aid stranded dolphins and prepare them for transport back to the facility.

Here are some of the many faces you will see at IMMS.

This is a 2 month old baby Horseshoe crab! Adorable!

Getting a little up close and personal with an adult Horseshoe crab at the IMMS Touch Pool.

And…. someone else was quite jealous over the Horseshoe Crab Fanfare…

Meet TJ. Star of the Touch Pool. He loves attention and loves being hand fed shrimp!

Hello Sea Snail…

Horseshoe Crab… and… can you see it…

Take a Look closer….

Can you see it now?

Its a Flounder! Mimi at IMMS informed me that this Flounder was rescued, he was a very dark dark brown color and was not doing well at all. And since being rescued and cared for, he is now healthy and a lovely sandy white! It is so great to see that not only does IMMS care for larger sea animals but small ones too!

Here is a video that I took during the touch pool session. Here is TJ again, his personality really did steal our hearts. The conversation in the background is that TJ is very hungry and wants shrimp, like NOW, and a frantic search was going on for shrimp.

watch?v=l_OMhlKxXV4

Now onto the Rescue Center where all the rescued marine mammals are kept to be examined, cleaned free of oil, and rehabilitated for future release. Here are some photos of recent rescues, now clean.

Several Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles have been rescued and are ongoing rehabilitation.

This one was camera shy.

There was also a enormous Loggerhead Sea Turtle. He was found North of Chandeleur Sound.

The massive barnacle growths on his shell were quite impressive!

I also happened to catch a really quickie video of one of the rescued Kemp’s Ridleys pictured above. It’s a really quick video since it was a private tour and we were moving very quickly from tank to tank. Sorry its not longer….couldn’t linger very long in the rescue area. But oh, isn’t he just gorgeous!! THIS is the reason for Project 8!! Getting a chance to see where the donations are going to help is amazing!

watch?v=2YFrlR8yLLU

After our private tour, we began to unload the Uhaul and my car. Photos to come. I, myself, did not get to take any photos of that, since I was literally in the back of the Uhaul working on unloading all of the boxes. However one of the IMMS staff members was taking photos of the unloading of the truck, and of Dan and I with the massive mountain of all 65,000 donations. They will be emailing those photos later. As soon as I receive the pictures, you all know I will post those up to share as soon as possible!

Everyone at IMMS were just shell shocked by all of the donations. Lots of tears were brought up to the eyes of everyone there, and words just couldn’t describe the amount of gratitude they felt toward these donations. They were stunned and speechless over the generosity of so many. And that was something amazing to witness and be a part of. I am still amped up about it. And it still gives me chills.

After leaving IMMS, Dan and I dropped off the Uhaul, and headed over to see family, rest and recover for a little bit, drink some Gatorade and ice water in the air conditioning. After we got cooled off and recovered, we hit the road back to Florida, but not before stopping for lunch.

Little did we know that, we would have an wild rukus greedy crowd join us for our picnic lunch.

This lot, did not know the meaning of table manners. tisk tisk. Check out the guy staring directly at me.

After sharing a picnic lunch with our rowdy lunch crew, it was back home to spend quality time with a tube of Icy Hot, my pillow and snuggle in bed. All in a Days Good Work.

Home Sweet Home.

Again…. I want to THANK YOU ALL for the Generous Support, Donations, Words of Inspiration, Supply and Transportation Proceeds, and being a part of Craft Hope. And Thank You Jade for being patient, kind, and so helpful and supportive. This project would not have been possible without ALL OF YOU!!!

GOD BLESS YOU ALL! WITH LOVE – KIMBERLY & DANIEL DAVION

Stay tuned, more Project 8 stories and photos to come… to be continued!

Oh the Boxes.

Kim — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 04:18:03 +0000

So I bet you all have been wondering what 65,000 donations really looks like. Well boy howdy do I have a surprise for you! Take a seat. For those weak of heart, you may want to grab a brown paper bag. For those who work for the postal or delivery services. Take pity on my post man. Yes, I am baking chocolate chip cookies for him tomorrow, as we speak… Now onto my blog post, Oh the Boxes.

Hello to Craft Hope, My name is Kimberly Davion (that’s me above) and I am the Craft Hope Project 8 coordinator. I thought I’d would post up some photos and put a face to where you all are sending your donations to. As well as show off the amazing quantities of donations that have been stacked up, teetering, in what I call Project 8 Jenga around my house.

This is just a small preview of what awaited me every day of every week on my front porch since the beginning of this project. As the project progressed I would have multiple 5′ towering stacks of boxes. I receive about 2,000-5,000 donations each day. All of which would cease to amaze me.

Filling up the Art Studio. Mr.Buddy sits perched to the right. Little did I know, that as the Project progressed, I would lose all sight of him as the boxes filled in the room. (Yes, he is still alive. We had a trail through the boxes, to feed and check on him. But he did miss seeing his parents come and go due to his newly cluttered landscape.) As you can see this stacks are 4 deep and 5′ high.

Attempting to peer into the guest bedroom where 6 and 7ft stacks now reside.

I managed to climb through the towers of boxes to get this shot from the interior of the room just so you can see how tall the stacks of boxes really are. That white thing peeking out from the top of the boxes is the guest room door. That was the only way I know how to emphasize the height.

Before crawling out of the guest room, I paused to wave hello to Craft Hope kids and Project 8 donors.

Now let’s go outdoors shall we?!

The heavyweight champion, the 220lb. donation palette.

And lastly, the most Grandeur place of all…. The Garage. Brace yourself.

Stacks as tall as 8ft practically to the ceiling. Poor Mr. Davion’s toys are all pushed out toward the entrance.

Stacks that almost dwarf Mr. Davion’s motorcycle. And go all the way into the back of the garage.

Pretty wild huh. This is what 60,000 donations looks like.

Size Matters. But not with this project. Small and large are both equals. Saving Lives.

Here I am trying to illustrate how tall the stacks are. I am 5′ even steven. Clearly you can see the tower. And I am actually sitting on top of one of the heavier boxes. So I am a good 2 feet off the ground.

Again, I just want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for the amazing outcry of support, donations, and love. This entire project has amazed and humbled me. And it is one of those life changing moments that I will never forget and will carry on through stories for the rest of my life. I have met so many amazing and interesting people, and has shown proof that there is so much charity, faith and love out there in the world. The news, press and media never picks up on the positive. Instead we are all lead to think that its a hopeless, selfish world. But I can clearly argue that its not! Through this project I have seen charity at its best, love from all others, strangers, from around the globe, and have been proven yet again of the Lord’s Testament of Stewardship. And that is the grandest of all! It moves me to tears and makes my heart overflow with joy! What an amazing experience, and again, THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE!

THANK YOU CRAFT HOPE! LOVE AND BLESSINGS TO YOU ALL!

As always, Project 8 stories and photos, to be continued….

220lb. delivery

Kim — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 03:43:51 +0000

Hi Everyone! Guest Craft Hope blogger and Project 8 coordinator, Kimberly Davion, here. I thought I would share some of my stories and experiences with you all involving this project. It has been lots of fun and I have met so many very interesting people. One of the most interesting people I have met so far, was a certain delivery driver whom I will never forget. It will be one of those humourous stories that I will carry with me for as long as I can remember. How an ordinary day turned into an amazing donation, startled a certain gal and made her giggle at the entire situation later. So much so, that I wanted to share my blog post with you all, here, on Craft Hope. Enjoy.

The Story: So as I was trying my best to “summer” clean the house, around the several hundred or so, 8 foot stacks of Project 8 boxes in each room of the house, I just happened to pass the window only to look out to see a very very large semi-truck slamming on his air brakes down the middle of our very narrow city neighborhood street. “Oh no.” I think in my mind. Yes, surely I have been greatly blessed in this amazing mission for Craft Hope’s Project 8 that I have coordinated. And saying “oh no” is not to say that I don’t want donations in the least for this tragic disaster, But… I am running out of room in my home. And here, suddenly, a very very large semi, is now stopping in front of my home. (did I mention it was very, very, large?) All I could think was “oh no!” How many? And most importantly, how heavy?!!!

As I am now spying from a tiny corner of the window, hunkered down in a worried panic of what massive quantities were about to be laden down upon my front porch, the doorbell rings. It’s the semi-truck driver. Oh no.

So I answer the door. A disheveled mess, no less – a rats nest of bed hair, no make-up, a flimsy tank top, McHammer Capri workout sweat pants, stubbly legs, and grungy white Adidas workout shoes… really not the kind of look you would prefer to answer the door in…. the doorbell rings again. I pray. Lord, please let not this man judge me upon my appearance. I answer the door. The semi driver is just what you would expect in the least. No taller than I am (and I am all of 5′even), a Sopranos gangster ego and dialect, fat stubby, ash laden nub of a cigar, hairy chest, gold chains, basically a Devito clone. He looks at me and says, eh, I gotsa delivery for yous. Wheres’yas want it? Donno if I’ms gonnas gets my forklift up dat incline in da yard…. I’m suddenly stunned….WAIT! WHAT? WHAT DID YOU SAY?!!!

Forklift!!!??

He says “Yeahs, da forklift. Its a 220lb.palette of boxes.” So wheres ya wants em?”

Wait… Forklift?!! Wait… 220lbs!!!

He says “Yeas. Yous gots a hearin’ problem? Yous keeps a repeatin’ everything I says.”

And he just stares at me. Cigar ash, slowly falls down into graying gnarled chest hair.

So I just stand there, trying to absorb the information just giving to me in Soprano dialect.

Okay Kim. Process. Thoughts. Forklift. Palette. 220lbs. OMGOSH!!!!

Where is this going to go!?! How ever in the world am I going to deliver this to IMMS?!!

So I put on the best, petite southern gal in distress bit in my arsenal of syrupy sweet skills. I say “Well, its just little ole me, I’m not sure how I’m going to handle this? Can the package be broken down into smaller bits? Something that I can handle? Can you help me?! *Bats eyelashes* (hey, at this point, its all I’ve got)

He suddenly realizes the circumstances and says to me “uh, yeas sure. I tinks so… yous can come looks in the back of ma truck at it. We can figures somethins out for ya.”

Looking into the back of the truck, I feel a little light headed. There were stacks upon stacks of boxes. And several VERY LARGE Palettes inside. Some saying 300-500lbs. Trying to retain composure. I remember, my delivery is just a mere 220lbs. clearly all these others were not for me. So I ask Mr. Soprano, where is my palette? He shuffles about, squeezing his sweaty robust stomach around boxes and forklift.

I’m standing outside of the back of the truck, a hot mess, with my large Granny Anonymous sunglasses on, looking around, noticing I have the entire blocks worth of retirees at full alert. Lord, please don’t let the neighbors call the Neighborhood Association for violation of receiving a non-residential delivery. oh my!

So Mr. Soprano finds my palette and slaps it. Making me anxiously jump to attention. “Heres it is” he says. “yeas, looksa like its a justa wrapped up, lika smaller boxes, Yousa can handles dat, right?” Yes I say. So he begins to unload his forklift with palette. And drives it up into the middle of my driveway, sets it down and proceeds to pack it up to leave. “Wait!” I yell to him. “You can’t just leave it in the middle of my driveway. I need to park cars here!” So he takes a hard drag on his knubby cigar, huffs a bit, and repositions the forklift back under the palette and moves it into a side area of my yard. Thank goodness.

So I thank him again, he says “Goodsa Lucks” and leaves. I just stand there, inspecting the palette. And recalculate the new totals for Project 8. 30,000 just went to 60,000 really quick just now. Then I realize, the neighbors are still staring, and I slowly make my way back inside figuring out what next.

Then reality sets in of what just occurred. There is a 220lb palette in my yard! I slightly hyperventilate. Oh my gosh! I need to text Jade!! I need to get a Uhaul, some equipment to move this palette! I need to do this now! I need to go start loading up the truck after work on Saturday.. I need to go make deliveries on Sunday. I need to do this now!!! Eeeee!!! wow! I sent Jade a frantic text. I hope I did not freak her out, which I’m sure I may. I was having a “Oh My Gosh, Is This For Real!” moment.

I got in touch with Jade, (she is such a peach), since she was in the middle of vaca at the House of Mouse, donations were sent ASAP for transportation provisions, I immediately had reservations made, IMMS was called and now I am settled and relaxed. All is taken care of, Mr. Davion will pick up the large Uhaul Truck on Saturday. We will spend the night packing the truck, and will head out to IMMS on Sunday.

I am still in awe and very much humbled over the donations and effort of so many. I still can’t believe it. I feel like I am living in some full-time Project dream, but no, its a reality. And I am so glad I am a part of this. I am so glad to have stepped up to have coordinated and participated. And this will be something I will remember for the rest of my life. And possibly grow onto other missions after this. I am blessed.