Community Corner

Giant Homework Assignment: Retired Teacher Creates Handcrafted Invitations

La Mesa's Donna Bloomer tackled mammoth project for the Southern Caregiver Resource Center

Updated at 12:50 p.m. Feb. 2, 2012

Donna Bloomer of La Mesa recently offered to create some handmade invitations. They promoted the 25th anniversary event of a local nonprofit she supports—the Southern Caregiver Resource Center.

So how many invitations? Several dozen? More than 100? 

“I thought maybe they would need 250-300 invitations, but they wanted 800,” Bloomer said this week.  “At first, I thought I’m not sure, but then I said: Sure, I could do it.”

So with the help of a friend—Donna Farquar, like Bloomer a retired teacher from Santee (and a former county Teacher of the Year)—she tackled the project of beautifully detailed invites.

“We worked many hours, but it was well worth it,” said Bloomer, who retired a little over a year ago as a kindergarten teacher. She spent 36 years at Santee’s Rio Seco School while living in La Mesa with her husband, Tom, and the home they built 33 years ago.

“We raised our three children in La Mesa,” Bloomer said. 

Her fourth child might be the Southern Caregiver Resource Center, a support agency for unpaid family caregivers in San Diego County that offers free services to clients including respite, case management and short-term counseling.

The 25th anniversary event is Feb. 11 at the San Diego Marriott Del Mar, 11966 El Camino Real. Cost is $225 a person.

The invitations weren’t cheap either, Bloomer says, but she got help from the paper supplier.

“I had already made a prototype but realized that it needed to be modified because it would require the use of one sheet of expensive paper for each invitation,” she said. 

So she called the paper company, ANW Crestwood of New Jersey, and was fortunate to have the owner answer the phone, she said. 

“I shared my story with him and before I knew it he sent 125 pieces of this beautiful paper to SCRC.  Then we purchased all that was left in the warehouse—another 125 sheets—and I began my work.”

Another volunteer, Barbara Dykmans, helped by buying the other papers needed to make the invitations. 

“I helped also with the ribbon, glue and tape needed to complete them,” she said.

The anniversary event’s committee chair is Nancy Ewing, an SCRC board member who lives and has a law practice in La Mesa.

How did she come to be the go-to invitation maker?

Bloomer says it began after meeting Lorie Van Tilburg, executive Director of SCRC, through mutual friends. Their husbands surf together, she said. 

“Lorie knew I like being creative, so she talked me into joining some artists in creating writing journals for the caregivers,” Bloomer said.  “I never considered myself an artist, so it took me a while to join the group. 

“Then I took on my first journal project, which was incredible.  I received a little biography on the caregiver I would be making my journal for.  Then the creating began.”

She says she searched for things that the given caregiver would enjoy. 

“I spent hours and hours making this the best gift ever,” she said.  “Every word, design, picture, ribbon, paper, had that caregiver in mind.  The best thing of all was when I actually got to meet that caregiver and see how much she appreciated my work.  It was amazing to see how much we had in common.”

Bloomer says she has never needed the services that SCRC provides, “but I know that if I did they would be such a wonderful support to me and my family.  The people I have met through being a part of this organization are wonderful.”

Bloomer says she know from some experience that caring for a loved one can be emotionally draining as well as physically exhausting. 

“SCRC will help the caregiver get the help they need,” she said.

The Feb. 11 event will feature another volunteer of note: a video greeting* from former first lady Rosalynn Carter, the anniversary’s honorary chair.

“She started a similar organization 25 years ago as well, and that is why I would love to hear how her Resource Center works," Bloomer said.  "We can learn so much from one another about what may work better for more people.”

And the personalized invitations?  Was she continuing a practice of many years?

“No, it wasn't a tradition for SCRC to make handcrafted invitations for their events, but it might be now,” she said.  “For me it is a way to give back to my community.  I love being creative and helpful.”

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*Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Rosalynn Carter would attend in person. The former first lady is the honorary chair since her foundation, The Rosalynn Carter Institute, is a major donor to SCRC and the funding helped launch programs that target Latino caregivers of family members with Alzheimer’s and other related dementias.


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