Humanitarian Beaders and Businesses Everywhere

Last year, We shared a news story from NPR about an organization that was helping women in Manilla who would otherwise have to eat  garbage or starve by teaching them to make jewelry from trash.  We got a very positive response from our readers, so we thought you all might be interested in these stories as well.

The first is about a project in Kentucky that helps refugee women earn money by teaching them how to make jewelry and helping them make the business contacts to sell it.

The next one is about two women who started a jewelry business together and then fell into selling beading supplies.  Now, through the supply shop they own, they regularly make donations to charities, help locals who need assistance and sell the work of local jewerly artists, helping both the artist and the local economy.


The last one is about a business that specifically purchases the jewelry work of low income Ugandan women who would not easily have another way to sell or distribute their jewelry.

Hillary has been a long time supporter of humanitarian efforts and said that she thinks it is fantastic that these people found a way to turn what is often considered a "luxury" or "hobby" into something that helps people in need of financial assistance.  We hope you enjoyed the stories!  Come back soon for more blog updates with interviews, new jewelry pieces and more news.  Thanks for stopping by!

New piece to be donated to a local charity

Hillary made this lovely butterfly necklace a couple of weeks ago.



He will be donated to a local children's charity so that he can make sure someone has a happy Christmas.

Child's Play Kickoff, new pieces, free shipping and other updates

We mentioned in an earlier post that we would be donating a portion of our profits to Child's Play. Here's the official announcement: 20% of sales from http://hippybeads.etsy.com and http://artfulunity.etsy.com will go to http://childsplaycharity.org, a charity that helps out children's hospitals throughout the world. They have already raised over half a million dollars in the last month and hope we can help give them some more. I started keeping track on thanksgiving and will turn the final donation in on Dec 30th. All sales count including sale items, custom items, and in person sales (if you know me in real life). These guys rock; help them out!

Why do they rock? Because it's a couple of passionate gamers, who write a webcomic, who got tired of the negative light that the media painted gamers in and decided to start a charity for Children's hospitals. They decided to buy toys and raise money for a couple of hospitals in their area. They ended up with about $200,000 in donations and toys that year in a one month period just by putting it out there to their readers. This is their 6th year and they more than doubled that figure their first week this year. They are now up to over $700,000 worth of donations since the beginning of November, and it all goes to help kids.

Hillary is an avid gamer and was raised in an environment of helping. She continues that spirit of helping every day as a social worker. She loves that there is a way that her jewelry businesses can help out and she really loves that there is a charity that promotes a positive image of an amazing group of people that she is proud to belong to.

In celebration of her Child's Play event, Hillary has made shipping to the US and Canada free, and international shipping only $3 per item. She has also updated the shop, put some more items on sale and added some new pieces:







Thanks for stopping by, have a great holiday and remember: http://childsplaycharity.org !

Upcoming events and projects

Hillary's other business, Artful Unity is participating in a Christmas Giveaway put on by the eSMArts team.

Both Happy Hippy Jewelry and Artful Unity will be donating a portion of their profits in November and Decmember to Child's Play, a charity started by gamers for gamers that donates games and toys to children's hospitals throughout the world. Details will be posted here soon.

Hillary has been prolific with new projects in the last couple of weeks new items involving the formica chips from the hardware store and bottle caps. We will be posting pictures very soon.

We also have plans for a great holiday post very soon, so check back to see it and all the other great things we have in the works!