It’s been a bit since my last blog. I have been super busy with
work and some of my family came home so I decided to give blogging a little
break and return to it after the holidays besides, I am sure all of you were
really busy too. I hope everyone had amazing and happy holidays with your
friends and family!
During my last blog, I mentioned my craft friends’ idea to
host a craft fair as a fundraiser for my upcoming trip back to Nicaragua, well
she did it!
February 25
9a-4p
Waterville Grand Hotel
Waterville, Maine
We are having a super fun, super exciting Crap Fair!
I love the name! It fits perfectly with my philosophy of us having too much CRAP to begin with and tossing it in the garbage does not
solve the problem. I believe in RE’s recycling, reusing, refinishing,
reselling, rearranging –just no more reeeeediculous buying of MORE!
As the past few weeks have progressed many of the projects encompassed under the Crap Fair umbrella have begun progressing as well. I have started putting together posters for vendors and myself,
along with ideas and thoughts for the next classroom visit, a slide show from this falls Nica trip, and a scrapbook to share with everyone (classes, Pancake
Breakfast friends & Crap Fair guests). Ahhh the memories…I look forward to
returning.
I was googling one night and stumbled upon what I thought
was an awesome website for children's books written in Spanish. Thinking, I was so
smart I started putting an order together. I even posted the companies link on my facebook
fanpage encouraging friends to buy a book and donate it toward the trip….it
wasn’t long after, I had message from my crafty friend letting me know she had already booked a table with the very same company I had just discovered. I
thought wow!! This girl is on it and well so much for my being a smarty pants.
What developed in the following giggling moments of two girls working
so hard to achieve the same goal was a CHALLENGE. I wrote to our contact from the
book company and proposed that she have all the books she could get on hand in
Spanish to sell at the Crap Fair, I told her no matter what they would be bought. My logic is if a shopper is there and wants to
make a donation we have supply in demand. She agreed and turned around and made me an offer that
blew me away. She offered rock bottom discounts and to donate her profits. I was stunned. I haven’t even
met this lady.
That’s the power of this project. Complete strangers want to
help. I remember my father sitting with me before I left last fall saying, “People
want to help they just don’t always know how. You are the how. They see what you do
and want to help you.”
One of my awesome high school friends offered to donate towards
our raffle one of her amazing Diaper Cakes, a craft she is very well known for
in our community. Anyone having a baby or needing the perfect baby shower gift must
buy or give one of these!
On the heels of that conversation, came a message from
another very dear high school girlfriend who is a Massage Therapist. She wrote to me
wanting to participate and offered to set up a booth and do chair messages
donating her profits to the trip and offering a gift certificate to raffle off.
My amazing soap designer gal pal has been working
diligently at creating pine scented soap for the Nicaragua students and
plumeria scented soaps for the Maine students; which we also will have on hand
at the Crap Fair. I am working with a program to educate children about proper
hand washing and why it is so important, sharing a scent from each others homelands only makes learning
that much more fun.
A very near and dear friend of mine who has really worked hard these
past two years, putting herself through college and doing AMAZING things with
her life, is a very talented photographer and has volunteered to photo
journal the Pancake Breakfast and Crap Fair. I am so pleased and excited to
have her keen eye and talents capturing every moment along the way.
The organizer of the Crap Fair and super talented jewelry
designer, whom I cannot rave wildly enough good things about, has spent
countless hours at home with her little daughters crafting beads to string on
charm bracelets to put in the kids backpacks. I love to buy bracelets when I travel as souvenirs and give
them to my friends when I get home so why not make some Maine designed charms
and give them as mementoes to the Nicaraguan kids…Which, yes, will be available
to purchase as a donation to the trip at the Crap Fair.
The sisterhood, the support, the women in business, helping
other women to help others is simply phenomenal. I cannot thank these beautiful
talented ladies for the unwavering support they give to me and my projects. I am
truly blessed to be surrounded by angels both here and abroad.
A long time ago my beautiful Roja and I talked about the
many layers of these trips and the tying of worlds together, this indeed is another layer that fills my heart and soul with joy knowing, I come
from a place and a people, that truly cares about something greater than themselves.
And there is so much more that I haven’t even begun to wrap
my head around.
Off to piece together some posters for the fair…heaven knows
I need a big head start as I am not nearly as talented as these ladies are...
Hasta luego!
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