About seven years ago, a church member contacted Diana Webber and asked if our Sunday School kids could put together art kits for distribution at Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital.Diana said that her family, rather than the Sunday School, would love to do this.The effort grew and eventually the Webber family assembled a cart that holds 20 bins with each bin containing 10-12 Ziplock bags – each a "kit."
A kit consists of art supplies: various kinds of Crayola coloring products, paper, five coloring pages from books, or an origami project.(There are actually 22 different types of kits.)Some kits are meant for children and some are for adults.The cart, named after the Webber's deceased grandson, resides outside the hospital Chaplain's office.The Chaplains distribute the kits.
The scale of this effort is rather amazing.Before COVID. 400 kits per year were given to the Emergency Room (mostly for children) and 1500 kits per year were distributed to patients in the hospital (mostly adults, as children who need to be hospitalized generally go to Legacy's Randle Hospital in Portland). Doctors, as well as chaplains, have commented on how much the art kits are appreciated by patients who are sick of watching TV and reading.Other kits have been provided to the Neonatal ICU, Breast Center, and the Infusion Center.
Although the Webber family originally paid for the supplies, as the scope has grown, other resources have been necessary.The gift shop at the hospital used to give hem $1000 a year, but the shop had to close last year during the Lockdown.Getting $1000 from the Endowment Fund allowed Diana and daughter Jeanne to restock the cart and also purchase essential items like pencil sharpeners, journals, clipboards and coloring books.They were also able to buy 2 cases of Crayola crayons, 100 boxes of Crayola colored pencils, and 100 boxes of Crayola fine line markers.
Diana said that "God has been in control of this entire project."The concept started simply but has expanded over the years to be a truly blessed ministry to so many people.If you are interested in helping by providing materials or money, please contact Diana Webber at 360-576-8862 or at