Happy Tuesday Everyone! Today is a pretty drab day so far in CT. It's rainy and nasty and an all around mess.
Today I decided I wanted to talk a little bit about
Jewels for Hope; The Company. For all of you newbies out there, my mother and I have our own company- Jewels for Hope. My mother creates amazing handmade jewelry- and I promote it/market it/etc. My mother started this business while taking care of my grandmother, suffering from Parkinson's Disease and Dimentia.
For anyone who has ever been a caregiver for someone ill, you know how difficult it is and what a strain it can cause on yourself as well as your family. Now, my mother was amazing in taking my grandmother in. She took care of her for 7 years in our house, as well as about 3 years before that while my grandmother and my grandfather were rehabilitation center together.
Hospice was absolutely amazing with my grandmother. Even though for 4 out of the 7 years my grandmother lived with us I was at college half the time, I still know how amazing Hospice was. Hospice would come to our house every day towards the end- to take care of the hole my grandmother had accquired. They would change her bandages, and clean everything. I don't know how these people can do this. I give them SO much credit.
My mother gets weak in the knees when my sister and I talk about a cut-- so the fact that my grandmother had a gaping hole was out of the question for my mom! She would have never been able to do what Hospice did.
If you ever had to come in contact with Hospice, I hope they were as great to your loved one as they were to ours.
Since Hospice was so good to our family,
Jewels for Hope started donating to them. This has been from the start of our company in 2009.
Recenetly, we changed things up.
We still donate to
Hospice but the way we have done it is now a bit different. This is a brand new change for us and would love your feedback.
We have a section on our website called "Creations for a Cause". In this section, we donate 50% of the proceeds to the following organizations:
Hospice
American Parkinson's Association
Michael J Fox's Parkinsons's Research Foundation
Breast Cancer Research Foundation
We are starting to expand our donations, since there are just so many organizations out there that need help. We plan on adding a couple more before the summer is over.
Each organization has their own color code. Depending on which item sells, decides which organization the 50% goes to.
Color Code Chart:
Hospice- White, Blue
American Parkinson's Association- Red, White, & Blue
Michael J Fox's Parkinson's Research Foundation- Orange, White
Breast Cancer Research Foundation- Pink
Now, the big change in our company? We decided we want to start a fund that we will give to families in need of "a break" from taking care of their loved ones. Let me explain this a little more....
For every item sold that is not under the Creations for a Cause section, we will give at least 10% to someone who needs help. When my mother was taking care of my grandmother, Hospice came for 4 hours a day (2 in the morning, 2 at night) to give my mother some time to get out of the house- whether that be go get a cup of coffee, go to the grocery store- anything. Well, Hospice only gives a maximum of 4 hours. We know how expensive it is to get someone to help you for a full day if you had to go to a party or even just spend a day with your family.
We still are unsure of how we are going to get this money to a deserving person. We are thinking of possibly giving it to Hospice to pass on to someone- since they will obviously know the people who need this. We are still working out the kinks, since we literally just decided this about 2 weeks ago. This will be called Hope for Caregivers. I expect we will have everything worked out for this within the next month- so stay tuned to get all the details lol.
In honor of us changing up our donations, I would like to offer you all a 20% discount to our shop. Donating never looked so great! You really can make a difference with every item purchased.
To get your 20% off your order, please use code:
JEWELSFORHOPE20 in the coupon code box at checkout on our website,
Jewels for Hope.
To all of you caregivers out there.... We give you credit. We know how difficult it is to take care of someone you love. Even though technically I was not the caregiver for my grandmother, I could see how much my mother struggled. Hell, our whole family did. You will get through it though... I know that is not really great spectacular advice, or words to help you..... I wish I had that for you. Just- take every day one day at a time <3
