The Great Programs Scavenger Hunt:

Are you looking for a GREAT way to change the lives of families touched by childhood cancer, or young adults who are coping with the after effects of surviving childhood cancer?  Look no farther—the Great Programs Scavenger Hunt is a great way for individuals or groups to give back—it’s simple, quick, and works no matter what your budget!  You can even participate from the comfort of your own home in your pajamas! 

1)  Camp Heart Connection Gift Registry:  We are constantly updating our gift registry on Walmart.com with items that are essential to keep our programs fun, safe, and helpful to our families.  All you have to do is go to walmart.com, find our list (it is a wish list, with the first name being “Brecka” and the last name “Putnam”) and then start shopping.  You can also go to your local Wal-Mart, visit the jewelry store, print out our list, and then shop away just like you would for a wedding.  Folks who shop on line might be interested to know that you can have it shipped to the Windsor Heights store in Des Moines for free using their “Site to Store” program.  Have it shipped to Brecka Putnam and we will go pick it up!

2)  Check in with our office to see what we have on our “Program Food” list.  We go through thousands of dollars of food each year from our camps to our support groups to our weekend programs.  Once you know what’s on our list, all you have to do is add an extra item or two to your cart the next time you go grocery shopping and bring it to our office.

3)  Give us a gift card!  This works especially well if you have just had birthday and have no idea what you are going to do with all of your gift cards, or if you have an extra $10-25 when you are going through the checkout at just about any drugstore.  We will use your gift card to purchase needed supplies, send parents out for some one on one time with a sibling whose brother is in the hospital, or use as prizes for a young survivorship program, just to name a few. 

• A prayer group provided snacks for 50 for our annual ski trip.

• The Program Food list helped us save over $4,000 on our camp program in 2009. These funds we redirected to provide support groups, resource binders, and more.

• Gift cards donated in 2009 were used to purchase program supplies for camp and to help families who were struggling financially purchase things like Christmas dinner.