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​​GLIFY Handmade Card Fundraiser for Children’s Cause
By: Vivian Hir and Justin Wang

As Thanksgiving approached, 30 some GLIFY members handmade a total of 1,100 cards, raising $2,100. The proceeds were used to sponsor living and education expenses of four underprivileged children from San Francisco’s Tenderloin District.

The project started with seven high school students meeting up in a design workshop in October. They took a short course on the basics of card design techniques and came up with simple and beautiful designs of their own. For the purpose of this fundraiser, they focused on three occasions: holiday, birthday and thank you. Some designs were elegant, some whimsical. Some took advantage of bold, contrasting colors, while others created a pleasing pattern of pastel shades.

Using these designs, GLIFY started taking orders from the local community. It was heartwarming to see so many people purchase our handmade cards to support children’s causes.

Based on the orders, the GLIFY members began cutting patterned paper. It was a time-consuming process. Some designs required intricate die-cutting. In addition, the tools may also have their quirkiness when being operated on, so we had to be careful not to ruin the material and end up wasting resources.

After the materials were pre-cut, pre-stamped, and labeled with the corresponding designs, we were ready to assemble them and make beautiful cards.

We organized a cardmaking event on November 23, where 21 members showed up to put the cards together. As little as it was, the card required much meticulous handy work. The volunteers had to pay great attention to details – Do certain parts need to be centered, or off to a side, and how far off? Is it aligned or crooked? Am I missing steps? Am I decorating the right side of the card? Is it too much glue or too little?

Just gluing paper together required careful work. If too little glue, parts won’t stick together, but too much, we risked the paper becoming warped. At the end of the process, we could all brag to be expert “gluesmiths.”

Interestingly, as volunteers worked, they formed unique microcosms. Some tables engaged in light-hearted conversations while others worked quietly. Some, after working on a design for a while, switched with another group. Some simply kept their heads down and stuck to one design throughout. No matter the working style, everyone was productive.

In three hours, we made about 500 cards. Some members who couldn’t make it to the card making session kept themselves busy too. They took home pre-cut materials and made about 600 cards there.

During the holiday season, our customers came to pick up their orders. They marveled at how nicely designed and well made these cards were. Because of their generosity and enthusiasm to support our efforts, we were able to raise such an impressive amount of funds for the first time doing this kind of project.