The HeartForward Project will inspire the creation of gifts and experiences, demonstrating kindness and bringing encouragement to people and their communities.

WHY

The HFP has been designed as a passion project spearheaded by Heidi Berkman and a group of friends who love people! Together, we have worked and volunteered over the years to support many causes. Each of us have a desire to share thoughtfulness, care and compassion in a variety of ways. This project and its activities will provide opportunities for individuals to get involved, volunteer their time as well as share their talents and resources for the good of humanity.

WHAT

The project will begin by inspiring the creation of felted, knitted and needlepoint hearts — each with the unique opportunity to be creative in the design, construction and designation of the recipient who will benefit.

Weighted Hearts

Knitted and felted heart patterns have been selected to inspire individuals to use their creativity to make these gifts (complimentary). The idea and symbolism of the weighted heart is to mimic the feeling of someone holding one’s hand.

  • Knitted Hearts

  • Felted Hearts

  • Weighted Heart Inserts

EXPLORE WEIGHTED HEART PROJECTS →

Testimonial

Georgia Freshwater

Portland, Oregon

“In the mid-1990’s I was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer. It was a surprise, caught by a routine mammogram after my 40th birthday. My only child, Eliot, was just 18-months old.

I decided on the option with a 98% cure rate for my Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS): Bilateral mastectomies with TRAM flap reconstruction. It would be an eight-hour surgery, but everything would be completed in one procedure. Unfazed by what would be a challenging recovery I went ahead with it.

A few days before I went in, I had lunch with my friend Margaret. She placed a gift bag on the table and inside was a box labeled “Healing Heart.” The box held a five-inch-wide fabric heart, filled with millet and lavender flowers. It was heavy in my hand. The enclosed card said that this heart was meant to be held in one’s hand or resting on your chest. It was as if a loved one was present with you holding your hand or gently resting a reassuring hand on your chest. When you had your Healing Heart you were not alone. The love of all who cared for you was represented by the Healing Heart.

The morning of the surgery I don’t remember anything I brought to the hospital other than my Healing Heart. The nurses taking care of me thought it was beautiful and had never seen one before. As they rolled me off to surgery, I held that heart in my hand.

Many hours later when I was in recovery, I became aware that the heart was in my right hand, as if it never left me.

Later that year, my mother was dying of pancreatic cancer. I found another Healing Heart to take to my mother in Columbus, Ohio. She was in the end stages of her life, and we worked with hospice caregivers in her final days. Whenever I left her hospital room, I made sure the Healing Heart was in her hand. The hospice nurses had never seen anything like it before and saw how this simple heart brought so much presence. I am glad my mother had this for her transition. Afterwards, I kept it in my China cabinet, because my mom always loved nice dishes.”

Commemorative Needlepoint Ornaments

These ornaments have been designed to honor the life of a loved one, friend, or pet. You will be able to customize the back of the ornament with the individual’s name, along with the year they were born and the year they died. This should be done using a Sharpie marker.

Kits are available that include all materials needed to make and finish these ornaments as well as packaging to gift the completed item: hand-painted canvas, needle, fibers, wooden ornament with hanger and instructions for finishing.

  • "Forever" Needlepoint Ornaments

  • "Loved" Needlepoint Ornaments

EXPLORE NEEDLEPOINT ORNAMENT PROJECTS →

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Testimonial

From Heidi Berkman

“In 2002, I had the opportunity to support a friend and her mother while she was being cared for in hospice. During this time, I not only saw how nurses, social workers and others provided the care for my friend’s mother, but how they prepared us for what was to come. It was also during this time that we received flowers from a friend which provided us with color, scent and beauty during a dark time. The little things became more obvious to us as we reflected back on this experience together.

This experience led me to start and lead “The Bloom Project” - a non-profit organization that provided fresh flower bouquets to hospice and palliative care patients, sparking beauty and joy during end-of-life care. Flowers were donated through grocery stores and wholesale flower companies. Volunteers created the bouquets; our hospice and palliative care partners transported the bouquets to homes and care facilities on our behalf. Between 2007-2020, the organization grew from Bend to Portland Oregon with affiliate projects in Sacramento and San Francisco.

In 2020, we made the tough decision to dissolve the organization and gift the remaining reserves of cash, supplies and equipment to other organizations in the Portland Metro Area as there was no clear way back due to COVID. We feel extremely grateful for the opportunity to have gifted over 300K bouquets with over 136K volunteer hours during our fourteen-year history.

My passion continues to raise awareness around hospice and palliative care in a variety of ways. In the last two years, with a small committee of volunteers, we created two needlecraft projects for Hopewell House in Portland Oregon — a residential hospice facility.

Passage quilts are given to patients and then to family members in remembrance after their loved one dies.

Knitted and crocheted items are made by volunteers to gift to not only patients but also caregivers as they spend time at Hopewell House.

Along with my passion for people and honoring our loved ones who have died, I wish to inspire others to give back through creating a symbol of love to share with others in remembrance. This simple needlepoint design will be offered as a kit that one can stitch, finish and gift to a friend or family member. Or gift to a local area hospice organization to share with the families they serve following a patient’s death. Each ornament will have a place to personalize and celebrate the life of their loved one.

I am humbled and honored to collaborate with Carol and Beth Gantz of “Beth Gantz Designs” for this design as the “why” of this project has touched each of our hearts in very personal and meaningful ways!”

From Beth Gantz

Needlepoint has been a big part of my family’s focus for decades. It is a hobby that not only brings joy in the act of stitching, but also in the finished products that commemorate so many important milestones in life such as births, holidays, graduations, marriages, and yes, even death. Needlepoint is often passed down through generations and serves as a tangible, heartfelt remembrance of loved ones.

When Heidi invited my mom, Carol, and I to participate in this project, we were honored to do so because hospice has recently touched our lives in a significant way. My father received hospice care before passing in 2021. It was our first personal experience with hospice care, and it was such a blessing, as hospice provided immeasurable comfort and support during such a difficult time. The hospice staff showed compassion, love, and patience to my father and our entire family throughout the palliative care process.

Together, we invite you to share your talent and love with another through participating in this project! We encourage you to share your experience and story with us so that we, together, can connect hearts and souls forever. For more information, click here.

With Gratitude,

Heidi, Beth & Carol

PROJECT FAQS

  • After years of providing fresh flowers to hospice and palliative care organizations (through “The Bloom Project”) seeing our loved ones go through difficult times, plus our love of all things hand-crafted, we wanted to share a few projects and ideas that can easily be made as a thoughtful gesture. These projects will be offered as an opportunity to make an impact in the lives of others…. just because. We simply wish to reach out to communities and inspire crafters with projects that will brighten the day of others!

  • The needlepoint heart has been designed as a commemorative ornament to honor a loved one who has passed away. It can be personalized with name, birth/death dates on the back of the ornament. They can be given to someone you know or donated to a hospice organization in your community to gift to family members once their loved one has died.

  • These heart designs are a hand-crafted gift for a loved one or friend that can be given for a variety of reasons: when someone is going through a difficult time; perhaps preparing for a surgery or chemotherapy treatment or as one approaches end-of-life. The heart is weighted and can be lightly scented (if desired). It is meant to be held (or resting on one’s chest), so the loved one knows they are not alone when you are not present, symbolizing the weight of someone’s hand.

  • It seems like a simple gesture and yet it means so much to us and those we love. It might become a cherished item passed down from generation to generation. We invite you to read the testimonials and you will begin to understand. We would love to hear from you and share your stories as well!

  • We are thrilled that you’d like to participate in the project! Here are several suggestions where you can personally share the hearts you create: give this directly to a personal friend, family member, neighbor or colleague that is in need of cheering up or encouragement. Children’s hospitals, hospice organizations, senior centers may wish to receive these to share with patients and residents.

    Or, if you would like to send your donated hearts to us, we will gladly gift them to organizations we support such as Hopewell House:

    HeartForward Project
    70 SW Century Drive
    Ste 100-145
    Bend, OR 97702

    • Needlepoint Heart: this is a very good project for even a beginner who’s learning needlepoint. You don’t need to know how to finish an ornament. With the heart frame, you just snap it together!

    • Knitted Hearts: Advanced Beginner as there are a few stitches other than Knit or Purl to learn.

    • Felted Hearts: Beginner - just knitting!

    • A hand-painted needlepoint canvas in a heart shape

    • Needle

    • Fibers (Or you are welcome to get creative — your local needlepoint shop would be happy to help you select fibers and give you suggestions.)

    • A snap-together wooden frame with hanger

    • A clear plastic pouch and sticker for gifting


    Instructions for making the ornament can be found here.

    • Needlepoint Kit - Click Here to Purchase

    • Fibers for Knitted Hearts - Suggestions for the type of yarn to use and where to get the yarn are here

    • Fibers for Felted Hearts - Suggestions for the type of yarn to use and where to get the yarn are here

    • Craft Felt - For craft felt, a local fabric store such as Joann

    • Millet - For millet: Bobs Red Mill

    • Clear Cellophane Bags with sentiment cards and stickers - Click Here to Purchase

  • No, it is a passion project inspiring people to get involved by creating gifts and experiences for the benefit of others. Revenue from the sale of kits and supplies will be utilized to cover outreach expenses (printed items, email newsletters and website) as well as the purchase of supplies for future projects.

  • Please send us an email: hello@heartforwardproject.com.

  • We would love to hear about (and possibly feature) your experience with the HeartForward Project! Please email your story to Hello@heartforwardproject.com, along with any photos (.jpg or .png) or video files (.mp4) under 20MB per file (or 30MB total).

    Suggested hashtags to use:

    • #heartforwardproject

    • #for good

    • #needlepoint

    • #knitting

    • #passionproject

    • #withyouinmind

    • #alwaysinourhearts

    • #inmemory

With Gratitude

Thank you to the owners of Churchmouse Yarns & Teas, Northwest Wools, Northwest Needlepoint, as well as our collaborators: Sydney Baer, Patty Bragg, Debra Burns, Julie MacKenzie and Jan Striemer.

Featured Events

HeartForward Project Launch Day
Wednesday, September 13, 2023 - Portland, Oregon

“Petal it Forward”
Wednesday, October 18, 2023 - Nationwide

Future Annual National Efforts for Gifting

  • Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October)

  • National Hospice & Palliative Care Month (November)

  • Mental Health Awareness Month (May)

  • Volunteer Appreciation Week (April 14-20, 2024)

  • International Nurses Day (May 12, 2024)

Share Your Story

Follow HeartForward Project on social media, and use the hashtags #heartforwardproject and #forgood to share your work and stories with us!

Learn More