Holiday Card Project 2016 Wrap-Up!

The Holiday Card Project celebrated its 10th year of bringing smiles and joy to those in need this last December of 2016. The project was a complete success, with over 4,000 cards from 1,500 deviants and artists all over the world.  Our mailbox opened for submissions in November, and almost immediately, we were flooded with messages from across the world—ranging from delicately hand-made cards to inspired digital designs.

   
  

A selection of some of the cards sent to us!

A team of DeviantArt staff, including damphyr, danlev, makepictures, chris, likasmyles, Lunat1k15, and more helped me open every card and sort it according to the message on the card and which hospital it would go to. 

The cards all sorted according to which hospital they'd go to, before moving them into gift bags. 

A couple days before Christmas, I delivered cards to hospitals across Los Angeles to USC Norris, Huntington Hospital, St. Francis Hospital, and Pomona Valley Hospital. 


 

Counter-Clockwise: USC Norris, Huntington Hospital, Pomona Valley

At St. Francis, I met Brother Richard, the person in charge of handing out the cards. He told me that he usually gives the cards to the patients in the psychiatric center, as they are the ones who are most often alone during the holidays. He also said that he leaves a basket of cards in the chapel, with a sign that encourages those who are alone during the holidays to take a card. He was so thankful for your card donations, and for all of the work that went into every single card.

While bringing cards to Huntington Hospital, we also got to experience one of their annual traditions—their staff-decorated Christmas trees!

  

Trees decorated by doctors and nurses at Huntington Hospital!

In addition to the cards given out across Los Angeles, our wonderful damphyr took some cards to Lewisville Independent Estates and Lewisville Assisted Living in Texas, where she spent the holidays with her family.





We also sent out cards to hospitals in Germany and Spain this year, thanks to the amazing help of deviants KimericalArtworks & Roiderjackl! They both went above and beyond to make sure their local hospitals received the cards that you all spent so much time on. 





This year was also more personal for me, as my mom was in the hospital this Christmas with an infection. I spent Christmas Day in a hospital room with her and my grandparents watching Christmas movies. Some of the cards that were sent in had tree ornaments included, so I grabbed a couple of those cards for her and put the ornaments on the little tree she had next to her bed. She absolutely loved the cards, and commented multiple times on how beautiful they were. 

  

My mom's little Christmas tree, and me with my grandparents and mom on Christmas!

This year was a fantastic success, and the perfect way to celebrate the 10th annual Holiday Card Project. Thank you to every single artist who spent time creating a card for this project. 

Every person who sent in a card with their username on a separate piece of paper should now have a 1-month Core Membership! If you sent in a card and did not receive your Core Membership, don't fret—that doesn't mean that we didn't receive your card! Some cards didn't have usernames in the envelopes with them, and some usernames were hard to record (especially when they have 0's and O's or L's, I's, and 1's). If you didn't receive your membership and you sent in a card to us through the mail, please leave a comment on this journal with a description of your card and approximately when you sent it in to us!