My 2011 Donation to Emergency Fund

Every year I set aside a portion of my Etsy shop earnings to donate to an organization that is doing great things for our world. I also like to tell my followers about that organization. In the last few months I haven’t talked about this much but if you were around my blog earlier, you’d know that in 2011, the organization I chose to donate to was the Emergency Fund, based here in Chicago.

The Emergency Fund helps low income Chicago area individuals and families who are struggling with a crisis or life change. EF helps these people get money for the small things that most of us take for granted, things that nonetheless make a huge difference to others. EF doesn’t just help them get money and resources they make it easy to do so. I wrote about my own family’s experience with crisis and how difficult it was for us to get the resources we needed. We were fortunate to have family and friends who were beyond generous. Without them, I don’t know what we’d have done, because the service orgs I went to either had no resources or had near-impossible hoops for me to jump through in order to receive help.

After contacting the Emergency Fund about donating to them this past year (it’s a good idea to get an org’s permission before attaching their name to your personal work, like an Etsy shop donation), I got to know a few of the employees and was able to attend a couple events. I went to their annual reception and got to meet people who work at the partner agencies where EF disburses their funds. I got to hear the stories of people who have been helped by EF, and the stories of people who have been touched by their involvement with EF. I was also invited to go to one of the partner agencies on a site visit. We went to Inspiration Corporation, an organization that helps homeless individuals find housing, job training and resources to get off the street.

I’m excited to share that I’ve just made my annual donation to the Emergency Fund! It’s not much in the grand scheme of things, but it’s my small part, and I know it will be used to help someone. Maybe it will buy a monthly bus pass so someone can look for a job or get their sick child to their specialist appointments. Maybe it will help pay an electricity bill, or help with groceries. Maybe it will help pay for a night in a hotel for someone who went through a situation like my family did.

I’ve decided that instead of looking for a new organization for 2012, I’m going to continue to support the Emergency Fund this year. They’re doing big and exciting things to help those in need and I want to be a part of that!

THANK YOU to all who have supported my Etsy endeavors in any way – this donation is yours, too!

Charitable Businesses to Check Out!

I love the opportunity my Etsy shop has given me to benefit my community – via financial donations, in-kind donations, volunteer opportunities and networking. I’ve met some incredible people and organizations through the charitable endeavors of my shop and I want to share some other businesses who give back! When you buy their awesome stuff, you’re not just supporting an independent business owner, you’re supporting a good cause as well!

Jewelry By Design – Philip Voetsch is the owner of Jewelry By Design and is also the designer of this gorgeous Blackberries cluster pendant. I know of this store in Kansas City through my friend Carrie who works there and has her own jewelry shop, Zarily, at Etsy. You can shop in the store or you can shop online, but whichever way you do it, purchasing something from the Blackberries collection means a donation will be made to Harvesters, the Kansas City area food bank! Jewelry By Design has a really active Facebook page where you can see customer testimonials. Jewelry By Design designs, creates and sells their jewelry and they can help you re-create old jewelry that you don’t wear any longer. If you’re looking for unique, high-quality jewelry, this is the place I would go!

Holly Knitlightly – Holly is a Twitter pal of mine, and dude – check out the awesome knitted stuff in her shop! She’s got a collection of cowls right now in a variety of colors and what I love is that she styles them on her models in a offbeat way. I would have just thought to hang that sucker around my neck! For EVERY ITEM sold in Holly’s shop, she donates a knitted square to the charity Knit-A-Square, which puts them together to make blankets for orphaned children in South Africa. Go Holly!!

Jac and Elsie – I got to know Jaclyn when we worked together on a blog post for the Handmade With Purpose blog earlier this year. Jaclyn’s shop offers a great variety of items because she works with new, repurposed and vintage jewelry and accessories! Certain sales in Jaclyn’s shop go toward Autism and Cancer charities, like this customizable necklace that will benefit Autism Speaks, which is the United States’ largest organization dedicated to the research, treatment and cure of Autism. Love to see handmade artists who give back via their shops!!

Sweatshop of Love – I’ve written about taking a knitting lesson from Allyson before. I just love her. She’s so funny and unique and is a knitting FIEND. She is what I point people to when I say, “Knitting isn’t just for Grandmas!” Well – Allyson has been working on a project for a friend who is establishing an organization called WORK+SHELTER that will help women who live in the slums of New Delhi, earn money to improve their lives. Allyson created 4 of the CUTEST patterns, which have been donated to her friend’s organization. The women in New Delhi will use those patterns to create knitted beautimousness that can be sold. Additionally, when you purchase one of Allyson’s WORK+SHELTER patterns (so you can knit them up yourself), 50% will be donated to the WORK+SHELTER organization! Thanks Allyson!!

Now, if all that shopping has worked up a hunger . . . and if you’re in the Memphis area, stop by Mama Mia’s Pizzaria and grab a slice! Ok, maybe they don’t sell by the slice – I mean, it IS Memphis . . . but you can get a whole pizza! Because you’re really hungry! From all that shopping! And supporting communities! Word on the street is that Mama Mia’s donates to local sports teams as well as the Special Olympics – I’m telling you, when I know a local business supports their community, I get loyal, FAST. So take note, all the rest of you pizzarias – give back to your community!

Check out the Handmade With Purpose blog. It hasn’t been active for a few months (it’s activity was concentrated in spring 2011) but there are still links in the sidebar to all kinds of shops that donate to their communities in some way. Plus, in the blog posts you’ll see specific items for sale in shops that give back. Get to clicking and see if anything catches your eye!

What businesses do you low that support their communities?

Crisis Fatigue

Where I work, we occasionally have small discussion groups called “Difficult Dialogues”, which are open to employees and students alike to attend. There is always a specific topic – something that isn’t super easy to talk about – and they’re considered a time when you should be free to share your thoughts without fear of judgment.

One I went to last year was on the topic, “What Are the Conditions of Your Giving?”

We talked about what what conditions must be met before we give our time and resources to people in need. For example, what reasoning do we go through in our mind to decide if we’re going to give cash to a panhandler? What about to charitable organizations, or disaster relief situations? What prompts us to give to some and not others? What must the recipients do, or do for us, in order for us to give? It was a really thought-provoking discussion. We talked about how we feel about panhandling (very common in Chicago), whether we give anything to those who ask. Who we don’t give to and why. What we give (money, food, discussion, cards with info about shelters, etc).

One thing we talked about quite a bit, that I hadn’t really thought of as being related to this topic, was going through fatigue. Giving fatigue, crisis fatigue, save-the-world fatigue.

This discussion happened sometime after the February 27^th, 2010 Chile earthquake. How do I know this? Because we talked about how after the Haiti earthquake (from January 2010) received such news coverage and we all felt so heartbroken and tied to that event. We all gave money and helped raise money and talked about Haiti. It was in the news, you couldn’t get away from it.

But then just 6 weeks later, a massive earthquake happened in Chile and there was mass destruction and loss of life as well. And the world – we – didn’t respond the same way.

Some of us in the room said that we had a personal connection to Haiti, and we think that’s why we responded so strongly to Haiti and not to Chile. But most of us agreed that we were experiencing fatigue. We couldn’t handle seeing any more images of devastation. We couldn’t seem to find the motivation to get out and fundraise again, so soon after Haiti. We were ready for lighter things like funny movies and focusing on our families and going about our normal lives. We were just worn out from all the heartbreak and didn’t have the energy or motivation to go through it again.

We examined this a few ways, but I’m bringing it up now because I see it happening again.

If you’ve been following my blog awhile, you know that I’ve been involved in raising some money for the Red Cross to benefit relief efforts in Japan after their huge earthquake & tsunami. I got really involved in those efforts, and I got involved in the Handmade With Purpose blog’s efforts, and I got involved with the Emergency Fund, who I’m donating some of my shop proceeds to.

And then, tornadoes started developing across the Southern U.S. (article & video in that link from Weather.com)

I was raised in Wichita, KS – we have tornadoes every year and there’s always some damage. Every few years, a major tornado causes horrible damage & takes lives, somewhere in our region in Kansas, Oklahoma, sometimes Arkansas or Missouri. So this is the sort of thing I personally know pretty well and feel a strong connection to. Normally, I would be ALL OVER drumming up participation in some sort of fundraiser or putting together lists of orgs you can donate to, sharing info about the individuals who are doing small but important things on their own to help.

But I haven’t. I’m worn out. I don’t know what the official name for this is, but I have crisis fatigue. And I feel guilty about it.

I know that the world’s problem resolution doesn’t reside on my shoulders alone, and that I can’t be expected (by myself or anyone else) to give over-the-top energy and work to every important cause that presents itself. But I still feel sad that I’m . . . not more sad.

Have any of you experienced this? I’m sure you have, I imagine it to be a really universal thing. I suppose I want to explain why I haven’t jumped on this . . . and why I won’t be able to jump on every crisis that happens. Even the ones that might have a more personal connection to my life.

Handmade With Purpose

Did you know that many, many people involved in the handmade and blogging community love to support their communities and those in need? It’s true! The other night during the Twitter chat for #setupshop (ask me if you don’t know what this is, it’s cool!) we talked a lot about the way that handmade shops and bloggers can raise money or support charitable causes and organizations. It was so inspiring to see people excited about learning how to give and serve in different ways! At the end of the session, a few of us wondered if there was any sort of blog that highlighted the charitable endeavors of those in our community. We thought it might be something we’d like to work on in the future.

Imagine our delight when the very next day, several of us were contacted by someone within the handmade/blogging community – who has participated in these Twitter chats before – saying, “Hey, I actually have just started a blog like that and I’m about to kick off a full month of spotlighting shops and blogs that do the things you’ve been talking about!” The person who came up with this awesome blog & idea is Lindsay, who has the cutest Etsy shop called Paint Me A Picture. She also has a facebook page for her shop and you can follow her via Twitter.

We quickly jumped on board, and I immediately bulldozed my way into her project. I’ve got to hand it to her, she responded so nicely – she actually thanked me for my ideas instead of saying, “OMG STOP EMAILING ME YOU FREAK!” (Ok, no one has ever said that to me before but I’m just certain it will happen eventually). Turns out Lindsay is sweet and funny and has a heart for helping others and wants everyone to know about the shops/blogs that are giving back, so that we can support those businesses which will in turn support the organizations and causes they give to. And I am ALL ABOUT THAT.

So what’s her blog? It’s called Handmade With Purpose and starting April 2nd, there is going to be a month of posts dedicated to sharing info about shops and blogs that donate/create/fundraise/promote for worthy causes! AND! It’s likely that after April, the blog will continue and provide great content about HOW you can get started with using your shop/blog as a platform for giving back . . . or how you can tighten up your game if you’ve already started down that road.

I gotta tell you, since deciding to put more effort into this blog, since diving into the handmade/blogging world in Twitter, since getting active with my local Etsy team, I have struggled to find MY PLACE. My little niche, you know? This is something I’ve dealt with all my life, actually. I get along with everyone and have friends in all the cliques, but don’t belong to a clique myself. I’m never enough of any one thing, I’m a big mixture of a lot of things. At different points in my life I’ve found others who are like me – the mixed bag – and we got on famously. But that only happens every so often. Anyway – before I start to regale you with stories about high school, let me get back to my point. This whole “giving back” thing? That’s something I can get excited about, for reals. That’s something I can promote shamelessly and that energizes me when I was JUST complaining that I’m overwhelmed. It’s something worthwhile that feels like it’s what I was MEANT to do. It’s why I started my shop with the intent to use it not just to make money for my family, but also to make money for things I believe in and want to support.

But – enough about me! If you have a shop or a blog that gives back to your community (locally to globally), get your butt over to Handmade With Purpose and sign up so you can participate. If this isn’t something you’ve incorporated into your shop or blog, but you want to learn more about it, get over there and follow the blog. You’re gonna see some inspirational stuff during April and at the very least will be exposed to some cute shops & blogs.

What the Heck is a Chiditarod?

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen me re-tweeting a bunch of tweets from my friends who were participating in Chiditarod 2011. What’s Chiditarod? Well, it just happens to be “Chicago’s very own most important shopping cart race in the universe”!

Chiditarod is a shopping cart race/team costume contest/charity fundraiser. Teams pick a theme, decorate a shopping cart and themselves, and raise money and food donations for a good cause: to the Chicago Anti-Hunger Federation, a food bank that makes donated food accessible to individuals, shelters, schools and non-profits. Teams race around the North Side of Chicago and must check in at checkpoints . . . which are bars.

The Derailers, 2010 Chiditarod

I first heard of it a couple months ago from Melissa, who is part of my local Etsy team. She’s a member of the Derailers team, and this year they raised a whopping $5,000! Funny – according to their Give Forward page, they made a donation to the Loch Ness Mobsters team, for “protection” during the race.

I next heard of it through my friends at ^5 Functions (aka High Five). ^5 is a non-profit in Chicago that seeks to make philanthropy easier by tying it to social events. Here are some of the events they’ve held so far (photos stolen shamelessly from the ^5 Facebook page):

· Pub Crawls

· Climbing a skyscraper – this one was fun – whoever raised the most money HAD to rappel down the face of the Wit Hotel! Everyone’s favorite parrot won.

· Halloween Party, collected gifts to give to Children’s Memorial Hospital

· City Farm Volunteer Day

^5 was founded by my co-workers and friends. Smart, funny, kind, generous professionals who like to have a good time – that’s ^5.

Learn more about the Derailers and ^5 Functions:

Derailers (Give Foward page)

^5 Functons (website)

· Facebook

· Twitter

Below are some of the photos from the Chiditarod, from the ^5 team. And here are more photos from around the blogosphere. Just google Chiditarod and you’ll be sucked into hours worth of viewing.

Parrot and Pirate Ship Captain

Mermaid

First Mate

Shark

(Following photos are by Jed Sullivan, photographer extraodinaire, Chiditarod Shark (above), High Fiver and soon-to-be-missed friend - he’s moving to San Fran!)

Tweeting!

Arrrr!

Le Ship

Go peeps! I’m proud of the good work you continue to do.

*Sorry about the formatting, y'all. Blogger isn't playing nice today.