Penn's Woods Painters

Community Service

 

Memory Boxes

Penn’s Woods Painters paint Memory Boxes as part of the National Memory Box Program to give to our local hospitals for parents who have lost an infant at birth. The boxes are filled with the few personal belongings they have from the child that won’t be going home with them.  These could include wristbands, photos, a blanket, clothing, birth and death certificates, foot and handprints, crib card, etc.  Our four hospitals use over a 100 boxes a year and we are their only supplier.  It is important that we don’t let these families down in their time of need.

Tera Leigh and Marie Gemmil (her mother) started the program in June, 1998 as a volunteer effort to provide boxes for families of infants that pass-away in the hospital so that the families do not leave the hospital without any representation of that child’s life.   In 2009 the Tole Friends Association took over the program and renamed it the “Tole Friends Memory Box Program.  The program remained the same except for the reporting procedure, which has been streamlined and completely computerized.  As crafters and artists each box is created with great love and a sincere wish to reach out in support and understanding.  We know each infant is special and very, very loved regardless of how long the child lived.   Since 1998 they have delivered over 113,700 boxes to over 368 hospitals around the world.   Penn’s Woods Painters joined the program in May 1999 and agreed to handle the needs of the Holy Spirit, Harrisburg and Polyclinic Hospitals.  In 2001 we added the Carlisle Regional Medical Center and the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.  We have delivered 1,107 boxes to these hospitals since 1999. 

It is very important that we give back to our community and what better way than by painting a beautiful box to brighten these families darkest hour.  The coordinators at all our hospitals tell us how wonderful it is to have these boxes to give to the families. 

To kick-start our program each year, we offer a free paint-in to the chapter members to paint Memory Boxes.Two different designs taught by two chapter members are usually offered and participants bring their favorite foods for a covered dish lunch.

Click Here for information on the 2010 Memory Box Paint-In