The power of greeting cards reside in their ability to translate heartfelt feelings into a concise message on topics ranging from love, hope, understanding, and sympathy. Card recipients know that the sender took time out of their day to search for just the right card to convey their thoughts and feelings.
A new collection of cards geared toward and inspired by the unique challenges and experiences facing caregivers, Eliza’s Caring Cards, are available at Victorian Corner, 211 E. King St.
Beverly Butler Faragasso, former English professor at SU, designed the hand painted watercolor cards that cover beginning, middle and end of care giving. The collection was inspired by Faragasso’s background in care giving, which included caring for her grandmother, mother, older sister and husband.
For years Faragasso made Mother’s Day cards for her friends to honor mothers. Her husband, Frank encouraged her to better understand why she was making cards.
After her mother, Eliza, passed away Faragasso began to reflect on her life and “realized that my parents had given of themselves selflessly and had rarely been thanked.”
Through the creation and distribution of Eliza’s Caring Cards, Faragasso hopes to remedy this. The name Faragasso chose, Eliza’s Caring Cards, is in honor and memory of her mother. For Faragasso, the value of cards is in the fact “the care giver can read the words over and over.”
Having experienced the hardships caregivers face first hand, Faragasso’s cards emphasize that caregivers need care too. The cards share a common theme - that help is available and that he/she is not alone.
“Both the pictures and the words are uplifting,” said customer Nancy Hodge. “They touch the heart and provide encouragement.”“I hope that, by purchasing and sending cards, those individuals who care about caregivers will become part of a ‘circle of caring,’” says Faragasso.
“It is crucial for the well-being of our communities that we reach out to each other.”After all “the hope we provide to others when we are well may return to us when we are ill,” she said. “In this way, we complete the circle of caring.”
The cards resonate with people because they stem from real life feelings and experiences. Caregivers and non-caregivers reviewed the drafts and often provided Faragosso with ideas.
The catalyst to create the caregiver inspired cards came from her husband, Frank. The name she chose, Eliza’s Caring Cards, is in honor and memory of Faragasso’s mother.
The illustrations are metaphors for messages in the card. For example, reviewers expressed their initial anger at becoming caregivers, which led Faragosso to create a card with a message and image about crushing a wad of paper – likening this action/graphic to the frustration one might feel when transitioning into the role of a caregiver.
Unlike support groups where relative strangers meet to share common experiences, Faragasso’s “cards encourage those people who are already linked in some way to continue the connection, despite the disruption that illness often causes.”
She also hopes that the cards will dispel some misconceptions about caregivers – namely that caregivers are only those who live with person who is ill. Caregivers are anyone who provides assistance to someone who is ill.
“I want people to understand that even if that person does not see him/herself as a caregiver; if she/he has some burden in caring for a loved one, then he/she is a caregiver,” said Faragosso.
When asked about future cards, Faragosso said that if she received suggestions about other topics to pursue related to care giving she “would pick up pen and brush again.”
The copyrighted cards are printed in Virginia by SOC Enterprises, a company that employs individuals with physical and mental challenges.