Grateful Human

Fleece & Thank You is the official fiscal sponsor of Warmilu, an infant warming company. Lack of warmth is a huge problem experienced by many populations across the globe. Over 1 million premature infants die annually due to hypothermia-related causes in resource scarce settings. Most of these fatalities are due to a lack of basic access to electric incubators and other life-saving sources of warmth. Warmilu created a patented infant warming blanket (featured left) and is currently warming 10,000 infants born to hospitals in 75 countries around the world, and this partnership will help to increase that reach.

You might not know this, but Nicholas and Grace are two founders whose early lives were saved by incubators. Nick was born a twin, and his twin sister was taking up much of the nutrients in the womb. He was born with fully developed organs, but he could not warm himself up. The care team was quick-thinking and put Nicholas into an incubator, which saved his life.

In a different Michigan hospital, Grace was born 1-month preterm the day after Christmas. Smaller than a teddy bear, Grace was warmed by an incubator for 11 days to stabilize her and grow her underdeveloped lungs. For days, both founders were separated from their parents. Being isolated made an impression. Grace’s parents told her stories about incubator life and only being able to touch her toe. This early challenge instilled a lifelong desire in Nicholas and Grace to make a positive impact and bring people closer together.

Today, both Nicholas and Grace are still blown away that their paths intersected in pediatric healthcare, specifically warming children with blankets! The world is a better place when FTY blankets provide comfort to kids and Warmilu blankets provide life-saving warmth to keep infants warm near their parents. Together, blankets from Warmilu and FTY become physical embodiments of love when kids are in their greatest time of need.

Our “Wrapped in Warmth” partnership with Fleece and Thank You allows YOU to create comfort and hope for someone going through a difficult time. Every soft, colorful fleece blanket symbolizes the love and support of friends, family, and community. The Warmilu + Fleece & Thank You Blanket Kit is a great way to provide hands-on support to children needing comfort locally and abroad. For every Warmilu + FTY Blanket kit sold, one infant warming blanket will be donated to a hospital abroad, saving THOUSANDS of infant lives.

Learn more about the partnership here!

Fleeceandthankyou.org for more info!

The world of clinical trials is shrouded in mystery for many, and in this conversation, Alyssa helps bring us the "simple explanation" of what clinical trials are, how they work, and why they are so important. 

ABOUT NURSES INSPIRE NURSES

Nurses Inspire Nurses is a community of nurses created to inspire and uplift ourselves and each other. It all began when Cat Golden, our founder, was tired, burnt out, and sick of waiting for external circumstances to change to start feeling better.

She started doing things to uplift her coworkers and created coffee talks, a safe space outside of work for nurses to come together, have real conversations, and find support. 

SHE KNEW SHE WANTED TO SUPPORT NURSES IN AN EVEN BIGGER WAY

She knew she wanted to support nurses in an even bigger way and created Nurse Giveback Night, an event for nurses to celebrate themselves and all the hard work they put in each day.

When she put the phrase “Nurses Inspire Nurses” on a t-shirt to sell at the very first Nurse Giveback Night, she got an overwhelming response and knew she was onto something.

Nick Iannarino (PhD, University of Kentucky; MA, University of Dayton) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Language, Culture, and Communication at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Nick specializes in health communication, and he is particularly interested in how people in close relationships manage the social experience of severe and chronic illness. His research considers the unique communication practices and challenges experienced by young adult (YA) cancer survivors and their close social network members. He has also studied the use of humor in existing narratives about traumatic illness (e.g., found in YA blogs, comedy performances, comic books), adult siblings who have made health decisions for an aging parent, and family communication patterns among cancer patients and their primary caregivers. Nick also teaches undergraduate courses on multiple topics related to health communication, qualitative and quantitative research methods, interpersonal communication, and public speaking.

Angela helped lead an amazing conversation that talked about finding your purpose, acceptance of others, trusting the process, and leaning on others for support. 

When Angela's daughter Brooklyn was first born, they immediately knew something was different. Brooklyn was born with a cranio-facial syndrome called Crouzon syndrome that resulted in several other complications. Angela shares what she learned from 8 years of hospital surgeries and treatment stays. 

Along with updates on Make a Blanket Week Walled Lake/Novi 2021 presented by Kroger, we are also talking about the F&TY Golf Outing, a big order we received from Discover Credit Card, some open positions we are hiring for, and National Volunteer Week!

--Wisdom--

“Old is when regrets outweighs dreams.” If you think of life in the concept of 4 quarters, the average life is 79 years. If we call adulthood at 18, what is halftime? 48.5! 

We get, on average, 61.5 years of adulthood, meaning each "quarter" is 15.25 years. That means your first quarter ends at 33.25, halftime is 48.5, and the third quarter goes until 63.75. 

The point: Don’t feel like you have to hit a buzzer beater in the first quarter! 

From 12p-3p at Suburban Collection Showplace, hundreds of awesome humans will be showing up for an epic drive-thru event to support kids in the hospital! Learn more at fleeceandthankyou.org!

Of course, there is an appropriate planning period important for any long-standing endeavor, but to extend that time period of waiting longer than it needs to be, to freeze out of fear of moving forward, to wait when we need to move, would be our greatest misuse of a valuable resource called time. 

Listen to my chat with Devin Tarrant from Applied Fitness Solutions as we chat about time and the importance of not waiting to do the things we believe in. seizing opportunities. 

Applied Fitness Solutions is a sponsor of Fleece & Thank You's work, and they host multiple blanket-making events at their locations throughout the year! 

You can learn more about Devin and the Applied Fitness Solutions team and vision at their website. Thanks for the inspiration, Devin!

This update episode talks about 

• our new warehouse cutting positions
• our lobby renovation
• volunteering
• special events- Make a Blanket Week Walled Lake/Novi presented by Kroger and our Fleece & Thank You Golf Outing
• Miles for Meaning competition
• and as always, some wisdom!

Today's wisdom: "The same sunshine that melts the butter hardens the clay."