CF Rainbow Tree 2021 Ornament Donations

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CFRainbowTree

The CF Rainbow Tree is back for the 2021 Christmas season! Although the pandemic has changed hospital life and policy, we are still able to go forward with this project, we just have to change and tweak a few things. As usual … I’m in need of your help and your polymer clay Christmas ornament donations.

Can you make polymer clay Christmas Ornaments? Are you willing to help? If you can, I’m calling on you to help! I’m calling on all polymer clay artists worldwide! I need your help decorating a Christmas tree for Cystic Fibrosis patients & staff once again this year. Please see the information below for details on making your clay Christmas ornament donation.

This is Important to Me, Because I Have Cystic Fibrosis

CF Katie Oskin

Occasionally I take a moment (just a quick one mind you) to write about my life story and living with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). I took my longest hiatus [almost four months to be exact] from polymer clay in 2011 when I had half of my lung removed as a direct result of my CF. If you’re sitting here wondering what CF is, your best explanation is to visit our foundation website.

With anywhere from 3 to 4 hospitalizations a year, my hospital is (at times) almost like a second home. Four years ago I even got to spend Christmas there … well a portion of it, being released the day before Christmas. Being in the hospital is bad enough, being there over Christmas is far worse. Every year that we come together as artists, our Christmas trees and ornaments are a huge success! The patients love them and love receiving the small gifts, and the staff that also receive ornaments from the trees are blessed by them as well.


CF Rainbow Tree – Clay Christmas Ornament Donation

CFRainbowTree

What to Make:

Make as many ornaments as you would like to help me decorate our tree. You can make “cookie cutter” style ornaments, 3D ornaments, fully covered glass bulb ornaments, or whatever your heart desires. They can follow any theme you’d like: snowmen, llamas, sloths, Santas, reindeer, elves, seahorses, be creative! Make whatever your heart desires. We are making ornaments for both children and adults. This is a big departure from previous years. So I need as much help as I can get and more ornaments than before!

If you don’t know what to make, choose either Christmas-themed ornaments or purple and red ornaments. Why purple and red? Every disease has a ribbon, ours is purple with a red rose in the middle. Why? Because CF is all about “65 Roses”. Read all about 65 Roses here.

Please Note: Due to the pandemic and hospital restrictions, all ornaments must be received in a plastic baggie. Please send your ornaments in small ziplocks bags.

University Hospitals, Cystic Fibrosis Center Restrictions

When Are They Due: The ornaments need to be in the mail to me by November 1st, 2021. Feel free to mail them sooner if you would like.

I am coordinating the decorating of the tree with the hospital staff and need to have the ornaments when they are ready to decorate. This ship date will allow me to receive all the ornaments from across the US and abroad.

Mail ornaments to: KatersAcres, PO Box 296, Newton Falls, OH 44444

What Else Can I Do: Contribute to the small gift & food fund to stock the pantry for CF adult inpatients via a monetary donation through PayPal. Your monetary gift is tax refundable. Please donate here.

Use #CFRainbowTree across social media.

Other Information & FAQs:

I’ve been wearing masks long before the pandemic.

What Will Be Done with the Ornaments? The ornaments will be used to decorate a tree in the outpatient CF center. For every patient (child or adult) that comes through the doors for their check-ups during the season, they will be allowed to choose an ornament to take off the tree and take home with them. Your heartfelt ornament will be a token of love they can treasure. After Christmas, nurses, doctors, respiratory & physical therapists, researchers, and other staff who treat patients with Cystic Fibrosis and have dedicated their lives to their care, will also be allowed to choose an ornament to take home from the remaining ornaments on the Christmas tree.

May I Send a Card with My Ornament? You may absolutely send a card with your ornament. If you send a card with your ornament, be sure to attach your ornament to your card in some way so the two remain together.

Will I Get to See the Finished Tree? Not this year! Due to hospital regulations, we may not be allowed to decorate the tree. I will be dropping off all of the ornaments and the nursing staff will be decorating for us.

From the bottom of my heart, from all of us in the CF community who battle CF on a daily basis, we thank you for your time, energy, & thought you have put into making an ornament to give to someone who will spend their Christmas holiday away from family and in the confines of a hospital. Bless you.

Please SHARE this CF Rainbow Tree post with your groups, pages, and social media to help spread the word to the polymer community about this endeavor. Thank you in advance.


Follow My Personal Journey with Cystic Fibrosis Here

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3 thoughts on “CF Rainbow Tree 2021 Ornament Donations

  1. I’m also going to do my best and make some ornaments (never made Christmas theme clay pieces but I’ve started practicing this well.)
    Would there be small trees that will need decorating as well? I’m just wondering if there will be a need for smaller decorations/ornaments?

    1. Thank you so much Lisa for your donation of the ornaments! No small trees this year; just a larger one.

  2. You have such a big heart to do this — I’ll do what I can. I have chronic issues as well (heart, kidneys), so don’t have the strength I had in my early days –but I love the idea that adults and children can receive an ornament!! Thanks for doing this!!
    Jan Gonder
    Los Angeles, CA
    (PS– I have relatives in Ohio, and my Dad was born in Lorain and raised in Akron. Moved to CA during WW”II and never looked back, but I’ve visited a number of times.)

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