July Jewelry For Charity Update & August Kick-Off

Once again, here I am to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who bought jewelry from me during the month of July. Your kind patronage helped me have a very successful month, and you know what that means - more money to donate to Animal Place! I just wrote a check for $550 in support of Animal Place's brand new property purchase. Few things make me as happy as being able to help such a worthy organization, and I truly can't do it without your help. So seriously, thank you.


July's donation brings me to a total of $11,626 in donations since I began my Jewelry for Charity program in May 2007.

Up for August, we have one of my perennial favorites, WINGS Guatemala. WINGS creates opportunities for Guatemalan families to improve their lives by providing them with family planning education and access to reproductive health services. 5% of any purchases that you make, either through my Etsy shop or elsewhere, will be donated to this awesome organization.


Here's one of many success stories from the WINGS website -

Wilfredo is 38 years old and lives in a small city in the southern Guatemalan province of Escuintla.

He works as a volunteer nurse, and also runs a pharmacy and a barbershop. Last year, Wilfredo participated in the men’s workshops that WINGS provided in his community. He felt that the information covered in the workshops was so important that when the workshops ended he volunteered to become a WINGS for Men peer educator.

Wilfredo was trained by WINGS as an educator in January 2009. He is now working in his community to distribute information about reproductive health, family planning methods, and sexually-transmitted infections, while also selling condoms at a reduced rate.

Last month he helped a young man with a sexually-transmitted infection find a clinic where he could receive treatment and provided him with information about prevention so that he would be protected in the future.

Throughout 2009, WINGS for Men will be training additional peer educators like Wilfredo who are committed to helping their communities through reproductive health education.