Monday, January 31, 2011

Second Announcement of 2011: Helping Others

Dear Bit of Whimsy Dolls family, please spend a few minutes to read this post of our second big announcement for 2011 – Helping Others – and our first related charitable partnership with Team Getty Owl for the month of February.

Sarah and I would like to call attention to a sweet little girl named Getty who is not yet one year old and battling a degenerative muscle condition called Spinal Muscular Atrphy (SMA) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_muscular_atrophy.  We were made aware of Getty (nicknamed Getty Owl by her parents) about a month ago by a fellow BOWD fan and our hearts have been truly touched. I’ll cut to the chase and then come back around with a big picture perspective…

The Chase:  Sarah and I have partnered with Team Getty Owl and will donate half of all sales of our Olivia Owl pattern http://www.bitofwhimsydolls.com/item/Olivia_Owl_PDF_Pattern/244/c48 for the entire month of February to raise money for Getty Owl as the search for a cure to SMA continues. Throughout the month, we’ll be mentioning Getty Owl in our social media circles with the hope of increasing awareness for SMA and Getty specifically.  If your circumstances permit, please consider picking up an Olivia Owl pattern or (better yet) donate directly to Getty Owl on her website at http://gettyowl.com. The Getty Owl facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/pages/Getty-Owl/169917196356343 and Team Getty Owl has done an amazing job of rallying people to help in so many creative ways as evidenced by the continuous stream of announcements. This is one active page! We thank you in advance for anything you are able to do to help the beautiful Getty Owl.

The Bigger Picture: Sarah and I have made reference that this will be an exciting year of positive changes as Bit of Whimsy Dolls continues to grow.  The first big change was the across-the-board price reductions on our Original finished dolls as we’ve found ways to reduce our costs and pass the savings to you.  There are many more big and small changes we have sketched out (and are working on in the background in some cases) for this year as the appeal of Original Bit of Whimsy Dolls continues to grow with your support and ‘word of mouth’ marketing!

Now it’s time to make our second big announcement – We want to demonstrate the amazing charitable influence of you, the Bit of Whimsy Dolls community, by partnering with select charities or other noteworthy causes.  We’ve seen over the past couple years how giving you are as evidenced by our Boo Bear ‘Pay it Forward’ pattern program and how we’ve been contacted by so many of you wanting to buy a pattern to make dolls for orphanages or other under privileged children. While not necessarily limited to children, we envision the majority of our partnerships going toward matters involving children. Moreover, it is our hope that we find various causes that are brought to our attention by you – the extended BOWD family.  Our goal is to have one charity or cause to support each month for 2011 with February dedicated to Getty Owl.  As a community, we’re in this together and together we will do our best to take care of our ‘BOWD family’ first.

Sarah and I will review all suggestions and make our selections and announcements at the beginning of each month.  We’d like to thank you in advance for your support each month and hope you understand should we select one cause over another at any time.

Sincerely,
Sarah and Rob
Bit of Whimsy Dolls, LLC

10 comments:

  1. Spreading random acts of kindness is a One mummy run non profit organisation. Raising funds to help others like, families who have lost there home and farm due to the devastating floods. Collecting DVD's for the locals children's wards. Doing toy drops in random places across Australia. And much much more! Would love for you to take a moment to have a look. I wonder if you guys would even considering making a very simple, easy to sew (Hand and machine) pattern that SRAoK could use as a free 'Toy drop' pattern? With credits to BOWD of course. Just an idea.

    Much Love! x

    www.facebook.com/sraok

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  2. I hope these touch your heart Sarah and Rob! I know they have for me and I've been working diligently to help support these families for months now.

    PRAYERS FOR DELANEY
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prayers-for-Delaney/135998836419708

    HOPE FOR ISAIAH
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hope-for-Isaiah/146908802008765

    EMILY/COUPON MOMMY'S LITTLE GIRL
    http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/emilys
    and
    http://www.facebook.com/CouponMommyof3

    There's a few! :)

    Melissa Reese

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  3. I will be buying mine on behalf of my little owl, Bailey Lehua U'i. She is the daughter of dear friends who also has SMA and celebrated her 1st birthday in October. Feel free to check out her facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001204714866. Mahalo BOW for opening your hearts to such a worthy cause. :D Hawaii Thanks You!

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  4. I have two beautiful daughters from Ethiopia. I would love for you to support their transitional home in Ethiopia, where they were cared for and loved before my husband and I were able to bring them home. The home is called Hannah's Hope, and it is affiliated with All God's Children International adoption agency... allgodschildren.org.

    What an amazing thing you're doing!

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  5. That is so great of you guys! I just bought quite a few patterns (my first buy) so I am a bit short on spending money right now, but in the coming months I definitely hope to lend my support!

    I would like to suggest a charity for women.. Perhaps a shelter for rape, abuse victims. I do not live in the US so I am not familiar with the causes there. It is the international women's day in March and I feel it may be a worthy cause to support. I think many people who buy BOWD patterns are ladies and I believe apart from children's charities this is another cause that can strike close to the heart.

    I love that you all are supporting charities and are not just about the profit. I feel like there is some hope in humanity after all. *sends e-hugs* Whatever charity is selected, I will still support :)
    -Stephanie

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  6. I just went to check out the getty owl site... What a GREAT family to support! Thank you for doing this! I WILL be getting the pattern just because of this!!!! WONDERFUL WONDERFUL

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  7. What about doing the same as boo bear, but appoint a different charity for each pattern? Maybe that is something to consider.

    I know of a Mexican school in Cabo, they keep the children all day & night because the parents have to work so much just to feed them. They survive solely on donations. My mom went there to visit & they were clinging to very old & tattered dolls & there weren't enough of those to go around.

    Also, my church is super small & just picked up a mission for the philippines. Pastor weren't there to officiate a wedding for a family & they showed him how much poverty these people live in. He brought it back to us & it is very heart wrenching. The people there are so poor they live right outside the dump so they can dig through it for cans & recyclables. They plant their rice right there where the water washes through the dump & waters the rice. They only eat one meal a day. They live in huts, worship in huts, right there with the smell of the dump, eat from the dump. Some of the huts are up on stilts because the water comes in at high tide. And here we are, living in our cushy house, eating whenever we like, having everything we need, anytime we need it... It did stir me very much.

    If you choose either one, I would be honored to help connect or facilitate in whatever way.

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  8. P.s. Great ideas, great cause, keep it up!

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  9. On behalf of all of Getty Owl's fans, thanks for jumping right in and supporting this wonderful family.

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  10. Kudos to you and BOWDs!! It is a noble thing that you are undertaking and I will support it as I do other companies who give back, such as the shoe company TOMS, who for every pair of shoes purchased the company gives a free pair to a child in need (no affiliation with TOMS). I am purchasing a Getty Owl pattern as soon as I'm thru typing this note. Best, Ani

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