Wednesday, June 26, 2013

What I really love about doing this blog is that I can 'be myself'!  LOL!!!!

I don't have to 'pretend' about anything, but then again I don't 'pretend' about things anyway.  That's not the way I 'operate'.  I tend to speak my mind, sometimes later I might wish that I hadn't, but hey, that's life!

When I started the AQP 13+ years ago I never imagined it would grow to become what it's become today.  I remember telling Ann (my wife of 17+ years now) that I thought I'd be lucky to have about 300 people signed up for the project by the end of 2000.

Boy was I wrong!

In December of 200 there were almost 1,500 people intersted in working with us and doing something for our blankets.  At the 'Height' of the AQP, back in around 2005 or 2006, we actually had over 5,000 people representing something like 35 countries around the world.  To say I was amazed would be an understatement.

When I started this thing it was me and Dale here in the US and Ali, Belle, Julia, and Pat in the UK.  Yes, we started with only 5 people at that time but look at what we've grown into..................

We had only 1 NICU ( Arnold Palmer's Children's Hospital, in Florida ) and were actively looking to add more to our list ( today we have over 1,500 NICUs in the US, including Washington, DC ) and in the UK that grew to something like 50 SCBUs, so we were underway.

Then Lorrie and Dodie joined in Canada and the Canadian Division was 'born' and those did a masterful job while leading that group.  Kim took over for a while and the 'leadership' of the Canadian Division has shifted now and again, but it is still going strong and soon we well have separate web-sites for both the UK and Canadian Groups, and they've definitely earned them.  Good luck ladies.  I'm always behind you and will continue to support your efforts.

At one time we even had an Australian Division, but it was on a much smaller scale and had several leaders down there for a while.  The last leader of that Division passed away a number of years ago and interest began to dwindle so much that I finally had to close it down.  It was a shame, but the interest down there never seemed to be on the scale of the three remaining Divisions.

Anyway, we're still going strong here and I have truly been blessed to have a bunch of ladies ( And Dave in the UK!  The only other male in this group!!! ) who have remained 'faithful' to our cause and continue to do their best to see that the AQP survives the times.

No one could have been as blessed with such a group and could have turned it into what it's become today without such love and interest.  I owe ALL THE SUCCESS of the AQP to those members who have remainded true to the cause and I can never thank them all enough.

On a personal note:  Two years ago we lost what I consider to have been the 'heart and soul' of the AQP, UK Division.  Belle passed away in April of 2011 and she was a staunch supporter of the AQP in the UK and she did all she could to assure the success of that Division.  She remains to be missed here and I can never forget all that she did for the AQP.  We still love you Belle, and miss you dearly.

Till next time,

James Farmer, Founder
The Angel Quilt Project
www.aqphome.org

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