The Artist’s Program started in 1998 with a small group of women from California, and is now providing Memory Boxes worldwide to parents whose infants died in the hospital. The boxes are meant to hold such precious keepsakes as birth certificate, wristband, cap, gown and handprints or footprints.
In 1998 HOOT voted to make this one of our philanthropic projects and continues to serve hospitals in the Columbus metro area and additional hospitals in Ohio. Paper mâché boxes are purchased by HOOT and made available at HOOT meetings to the members who choose to paint them according to our carefully constructed guidelines that were revised in 2007. The hand-painted boxes are returned at the following general meeting. We also maintain an album of patterns, ideas and pictures of some previously painted boxes. In recent years, our HOOT Convention has provided a table and supplies, where our guests can paint Memory Boxes, at their leisure. Volunteers from HOOT coordinate deliveries to the various hospitals where nurses and social workers project is encouraged and very much appreciated.
In the 23 years HOOT has be participating in the program, HOOT has donated more than 8,000 Memory Boxes.