Happy First Birthday to Craft Hope! Thanks to all of you and your loving work, Craft Hope has been in operation for one year. It has been a rewarding year of blankets and hats, dolls and sock monkeys, dresses and scarves, of a new book that has gone to print, and of an outpouring of support for people who need help in Haiti, Nicaragua, India, Mexico, and here at home. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all that you have done with us.
The Craft Hope for Haiti shop on Etsy has been a success beyond our craziest dreams. We want to thank all of you for being a part of it. We have a few more donations that we will be listing in the shop today, and then we will be closing it down. Running a shop on Etsy that draws from so many sellers is simply not something that we can manage longer term, and we hope you understand. It has been an amazing time and we’ve gotten to know so many people who have been involved with donating items, buying them, and often both. As I’ve said before, the crafting community is full of wonderful people and we’re lucky to be a part of it. We will spend the next few weeks wrapping up the sales and paperwork associated with the shop. We are so proud of the $30,000 that we have raised together for Doctors Without Borders. It’s a remarkable gift from so many people.
We plan to forward the funds to Doctors Without Borders in approximately 45-50 days, due to some unforeseen delays at Paypal. Because of the huge volume of transactions that flowed into the Paypal account in such a short period of time, Paypal has put a hold on the funds, other than to refund to customers as necessary. While we’re not happy about this at all, we do understand that Paypal has those security measures in place for good reason. The 45 day delay will allow us to show that any unhappy customers have been treated fairly and that there will not be chargebacks to the account that would leave Paypal holding the bag. At that time, we will review the account with them and arrange for a funds transfer. If they are still holding funds after that review, then we will force the issue with them and ask for your voices, as necessary. However, at this point, we feel that giving them 45 days is reasonable, given the whirlwind nature of the fundraising and the risk of removing that much money from the account before potential chargebacks have surfaced. Frankly, we will feel better sending the funds knowing that everyone has received what they purchased or has been refunded their money. That way, we’ve all achieved our goals. We will let you know if and when it’s time to start making noise.
So the question is, where do we go from here? Craft Hope’s other projects will continue as they always have. The Orphan Foundation scarf project has an approaching deadline of February 14th and over 300 people participating. The next project is in the planning stages. The Craft Hope book is at the printer and will be released in August. There are all sorts of ways to help coming up.
We would like to continue to operate a shop for fundraising, not just for emergency needs like Craft Hope for Haiti, but for ongoing support of children in need. We’ll be doing some research on different ways of doing so and getting everything set up properly. We want to offer a craft marketplace that allows sellers to find a wide audience for their wares and donate part of the sales to charity while still benefitting from their own hard work and talent. So stay tuned while we put all of that together.
Thank you again for all of your support of the Craft Hope for Haiti shop as well as our other projects. None of this would happen without you. Remember – the shop is open until Monday. Shop while you can!
In gratitude,
Jade and Sarah
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Thanks to all of you who worked SO hard on this project – we may have donated things but you all were the real driving force behind it all and deserve a round of applause (well, more than that but..). I don’t knit so I’m not making a scarf but am excited to see the new projects you’ll have for 2010. Thanks again!
I agree, fabulous work. You should be very proud.
I am proud to have been a small part of this effort for the people of Haiti. Thank you for helping that to happen.
I whole-heartedly support the closing of the shop.
I’m anxious to see what is coming up!
Happy Anniversary friend. Much love to you.
I’m so glad to be a part of this awesome community. $30 grand is no small feat!! Loving the love up in here! And I can’t wait to participate in Craft Hope…year TWO!!! With any luck there’ll be more people to spread the love, more awesome handmade items, and more hearts in the world that are healed by everyone’s amazing work
Three big cheers to you!! This was an awesome thing you, and all your support, did and $30,000 is an incredible amount. I, too, support closing down the shop. I look forward to another project I can help with by actually making something….bring on year 2!!!
Jade,
What an amazing year. You’ve put in so much work and you’ve accomplished so much good. Here’s to another year of crafting hope around the world. Working with you has been a joy, and the book is going to be awesome.
good luck with all the paperwork!
Thanks for the update and your hard work. I am so proud to be part of Craft Hope and also look forward to what is next!
Your tremendous effort has made such an incredible impact! I don’t think we could ever realize the personal sacrifices you and your families have made through these last few weeks – you are truly amazing. Your decision to return to your roots must have been a difficult one to make, but you are making such a significant impact worldwide there too!
I look forward to a great year of Craft Hope projects (and personally hope there aren’t too many knitting projects in the works – I’d rather be sewing
I was pleased and surprised when my kids (college and teens) thought it was cool and a good thing that I had donated items where I wasn’t going to get any money. I didn’t think anything of it, and it was the most pleasurable thing to donate items I had made, and have them sell for funds for a great cause!
I am so happy I read other blogs about Craft Hope that day 3 weeks ago, and had items to donate. Thank you all who spent all those hours away from your dailies and family and monitored the wealth of donations and purchases!
Wonderful. Look forward to hearing the future of the CH etsy site.
I can’t knit, but anxiously await the next project!
Thank you for hosting this great blog and giving us any easy way to help others.
Ruth
sadly I must report that i will not have my red scarf done in time. I was going along and making great progress, until I made a big mistake and tried to correct it. My correction made an even b igger mess. I’m not expert enough at quilting to fix what I messed up AND get going again to finish it in time. So I will not be sending it in for this drive, but hopefully I could at least get this one done in time for the next deadline that the red scarf project itself has… I’ll aim for that. The time frame is more reasonable for an amateur knitter like me!
I received my purchase very quickly, and it was perfect! I haven’t been able to participate in crafting for one of your projects, but hope to do so soon. If you’re ever interested in doing something for kids in orphanages in Vietnam or China, I have lots of contacts, since my adopted kids are from there. Good luck with your second year ,and thanks for all you do.
I mailed out a box of 13 scarves this past week. I’m hoping it gets there in time. Thanks for the opportunity to help others. Several of my girlfriends got together and whala…a bunch of scarves.
Happy First Anniversary!
Regarding the Craft Hope for Haiti shop on ETSY, it was extremely exciting to be a small part of it both from a purchasing standpoint as well as donating items.
I look forward to being a part of your continuing fund raising efforts.
you’ve done amazingly and I’m so glad I found out in time to donate some items.
if you see a way to collaborate or link up with made4aid then let us know, and I’ll keep watching to see what you do next.
Happy 1 Year! Wishing you many, many more! You’ve done and outstanding job with everything, and especially raising funds for Haiti. I was so happy to be a small part of this buy donating and purchasing… every little bit helps. Thank you for all you do and that we may all help you too!
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Would anyone be interested in joining me to form a team “etsy artists (or shops) give back.” You would not have to manage anything. The only requirement would be that you donate a portion of your profit (any amount) to a charity of your choice. The key charity I am supporting is Aid to Artisans. I would like to team up with other artists who are interested in giving back. Please contact me if you are interested at starseedjewelry@aol.com. or visit my facebook page and drop a message at: http//bit.ly/starseedjewelry_FB.
Terri
Oops, my facebook page is : http://bit.ly//starseedjewelry_FB
Wow that is amazing! Great job. You know they are going to need money for months and weeks to come in Haiti, so yours may come just in time as they are feeling forgot and need more help. Happy one year!
And I was able to send off 3 beautiful red scarves. I said I would only be sending one, but we got three done in time. Thank you for your inspiration.
You are AWESOME!!!