McKenna's Young Women's Project: Good Works

I don't know if I mentioned it before or not... but McKenna has been working on her 2nd Young Women's Medallion for Personal Progress. She finished the first time when she was almost 14... and began working on it again immediately after finishing. We told her that her projects needed to be even bigger this time, and she has lived up to that. She also earned her "Bee" for helping other girls in our ward work towards earning their medallion. (Which requires 40 hours!!!!) She is almost done...she is finishing 2 other projects at the moment and should finish before then end of August. (She will be 16 in about 3 1/2 months...which means it has taken her about 2 years both times.) This is one of her favorite projects! She took it to the Stake level and invited other girls to get involved and help at girls camp. She had quilts set up the entire time so that others could pass off requirements for learning a new skill...

This project started because of our neighbor, Taylor Davis. He has been undergoing treatments for Hodgkin's Lymphoma this year. I would drive he and his mom to Primary Children's Hospital for treatments, and while there, noticed that when a child finished treatments, they were presented with a quilt and toys and sung to by the staff. McKenna ran with this idea and did a toy and quilt drive to donate in Taylor's name. We finished tying and sewing all of the quilts this week...
McKenna tying a University of Utah one...

Quilts waiting for me to pin and sew them...

Kenna found out this week that one of her new friends from EFY has a father who is suffering from cancer and treatments. So, she finished up this camo one for him... We delivered it to him on Friday. We couldn't go in and see him because his counts are low... but he was touched that she would think of him...

There were quilts everywhere! It was such a fun few days... lots of hours!!! But worth every minute!

The finished quilt for Heber's dad...

10 of the 12 remaining quilts ready for delivery! Presentation is everything!!!

This morning ready to head out for the hospital... We were meeting Taylor and his mom Jennifer there... we brought along Camilla too.

We went and got a cart to haul in the quilts, toys, coloring books, and crayons. We decided this morning that it would be fun to hand out coloring books and crayons to kids in the hospital that were there for treatments, etc...so Courtney, Camilla, and Jonah were thrilled!

A few of the toys....

McKenna in the elevator on the way up...

The three musketeer's armed with coloring books and crayons... looking for unsuspecting children in need of cheering up!

We met Taylor and Jennifer in the Oncology department and made our presentation to all of the wonderful nurses and doctors that take such good care of the children that need their care...

The nurses were blown away and kept hugging Kenna! One little girl stuck her head out of a room and asked what we were doing. The nurse explained that when she finished her treatments she would get a quilt and toys... she was so excited! When McKenna saw the look on her face she said it just melted her heart and made it so worth it! It was great to get to donate all of these things in Taylor's name... what a great kid! He was told today that he has in the high 80's chance of the cancer never coming back.... sounds like pretty good odds to me!

Personal Progress rocks!!!! Even when your mom takes weird random shots of you in the elevator!

The little kids handing out the last of the coloring books and crayons... they told me in the car that it gave them the "warm fuzzies" and that it felt so good to cheer up the kids they met today!

This was a great project... and one that touched a lot of lives. I am really proud of McKenna for doing this, and for everyone that helped. I am so grateful for the Young Women's program and for what it is teaching my daughter about her power to make the world a better place.