Made by Mary in the media

Made by Mary in the media

Our local community, friends, and family have supported Made By Mary in dozens of meaningful and creative ways.  One of those ways has been by getting the word out about Made By Mary in the media and other online outlets.

In October of 2018, a sorority friend of Erin’s had requested that she be able to complete an application for Made By Mary to be highlighted by the group Stand Out Kids. Like Made By Mary, Stand Out Kids uses social media (in their case, Instagram) to recognize kids that have made a difference in their community.  Since its first post in November of 2018, Stand Out Kids has highlighted more than thirty different kids across the country who are trying to make an impact locally or globally.  Some examples of the kids’ efforts include anti-bullying campaigns, fundraising for improved awareness of various illnesses, donating money to the victims of national disasters and, of course, baking for good causes.

On December 24th, 2018, Made By Mary was promoted on the Instagram page of Stand Out Kids.

Made by Mary in the media

The copy read:

Meet Mary! Mary created “Made By Mary” which is an organization that bakes and delivers goodies to people in her community who need a pick me up.  Mary takes entries from people and then bakes and delivers these goodies to the sick, elderly, stressed, or challenged people in her area.  She includes a decorated note as well.  So far she has done around 90 deliveries and is always ready to do more. Thanks for being so awesome, Mary!

We encourage you (and your children) to be inspired by the initiatives that young kids are taking to make the world a better place by following Stand Out Kids on Instagram.  They can be found at Stand_Out_Kids.  Feel free to tag #madebymarycommunity while you’re there!

The team at Made By Mary is so thankful for any media publicity which brings attention to our mission of improving kindness and compassion while minimizing loneliness. If you are aware of any other media outlets that would like to help us spread the word about how we try to achieve our mission, please contact us through our website at www.madebymarycommunity.org.

 

Made By Mary in the media

Made By Mary on WGN TV

Made By Mary on WGN TV

Brenda is one of my very favorite Made By Mary stories. One day I was perusing the Mount Prospect Neighbors Group on Facebook and came across a woman, Brenda, that had reached out to the community asking for counselor referrals. She had been suffering with sadness after her sister’s passing a few months earlier. We, of course, replied to her post with words of encouragement but my mind was wondering how I could find out this woman’s address so that the Made By Mary team could deliver to her.  Within hours and without prompting, someone contacted me through Facebook Messenger and provided us Brenda’s address and suggested we might visit her.

I reached out to our Made By Mary baking team and one member offered to make banana bread but didn’t have the time to deliver it. She ended up bringing the bread to my house on a Friday and first thing Saturday morning I set off to Brenda’s house. It was early.  Likely too early to suggest someone would be happy to be getting a delivery from a stranger but, nonetheless, our Saturday was packed and I wanted to make sure we got to Brenda.

Brenda’s husband answered the door and looked at me quizzically when I suggested we had a delivery for Brenda. She came to the door in her robe and I started to explain that I was there on behalf of the team at Made By Mary and we were so sorry to hear about her sister’s passing. Upon reflection, I am not sure I made it all the way to the word “sister” before we were both in tears and hugging on her front porch.  We parted ways and as I pulled out the Kleenex that is now perpetually being restocked in my car because of these deliveries, I knew that—beyond a doubt—going to Brenda’s was the best thing we could have done that day.

Brenda later reached out to me through the Made By Mary page and told me that she had written to Erin Ivory at WGN and told her about our services to the community.  Erin sleuthed her way to finding us and, ultimately, WGN got our contact information from the Village of Mount Prospect.  You can imagine our astonishment and excitement when a beloved WGN news anchor called us to express interest in covering the Made By Mary story. Erin asked if they could send a cameraman from WGN by the next day and if we had a delivery to make by chance.

We did in fact have a delivery to make!  One of Arlington Height’s sweetest ladies is fighting a longer-than-anticipated battle against breast cancer.  She and her kids were home on winter break so we wanted to send something that would be respectful of her dietary restrictions (low sugar). We ended up deciding on delivering homemade whipped cream made with our family’s favorite B&E’s Trees Bourbon Barrel Aged maple syrup (discovered on a family vacation this summer) and organic berries.  It was mind-blowing to have a WGN cameraman (from Mount Prospect by the way), in our kitchen and then following us on a delivery.

Made By Mary on WGN TV

segment is set to air on Thursday, January 17th, 2019 during the 4:00 p.m. news hour and then again during the 6:00 p.m. news hour.  Tune in!

Thank you to WGN for helping us expand the message and mission of Made By Mary and, even more importantly, thank you to Brenda and the recipient of our filmed delivery for continuing the messages of  kindness in the community.