Last month we asked the question “How do you share joy?” and we received dozens of amazing stories about people using cards and card-making to bring joy to others. I’m so excited to share their stories this week in hopes that they inspire us all to share even more joy with our cards!

To kick off our birthday celebration I want to tell you about Louise’s work here in central Iowa and how TE is partnering with her to share joy.

Several years ago, after a service project introduced her to heartbreaking situations within the foster care system, Louise started Packed with Love, a ministry that delivers backpacks to girls and boys ages 4-17 during their transition into foster care. With the chaos and trauma kids often experience during these times, Louise offers comfort and compassion by giving each child a backpack filled with stuffed animals, blankets, school supplies, Bibles, personal care items, or anything else to make their transition into foster care less frightening and confusing.

With dozens of kids entering into foster care every month, Louise’s goal is to provide each child with a backpack that includes a handmade encouragement card to let them know they are loved and cared about. While her family helps with the ministry (including her future daughter-in-law, a former foster care kid herself!) their resources are limited. So to help Louise meet her goal for the next year, TE will donate 5% of all September Release sales from September 10-22 to purchase backpacks and other supplies for Packed with Love.

Thank you in advance for helping Louise share joy in such a wonderful way! We can’t wait to see how many backpacks we can fill together!

Stay tuned for more Share Joy Stories later this week!