It’s great to send and receive cards. But what do you do with them once the holiday season is finished?

One of my friends bought her kids a paper recycling kit for Christmas with the aim of taking all the greeting cards they received and turning them into decorative paper that could be used for this year’s birthday cards.

But if you haven’t got the time or the creative gene for such an enterprise, consider this alternative.

Send your used greeting cards to Jude’s Ranch for Children in Boulder City. They’ve been running a Recycled Card Program for the past thirty odd years. Children and volunteers take the donated cards and create new recycled cards by removing the front of the original card and attaching a new back. These cards are then sold at the ranch’s gift store (and online) in packages of 10, with the proceeds of all sales going to the ranch which provides a safe haven for abused, neglected and abandoned children in Southern Nevada.

St Jude’s are accepting all used, all-occasion greeting cards up until Feb 28, 2009, so why not have an early spring clean and dig out all the birthday and other cards received last year?

Mail them to: St. Jude’s Ranch for Children, Card Recycling Program, 100 St. Jude’s St., Boulder City, NV 89005. Of course, if you’re in the neighborhood, you could always deliver them in person and maybe even pick up some new cards for this year.