Blog Design

As you can tell, I changed the look of the blog (colors). Has this made it hard to read? I'd really like to keep the purple background, so what would be a good color for the text?

Looking for ideas for Cafepress

I am looking for quotes, graphics, cartoons, etc., to put on products sold by Cafepress.com. The first charity we're helping is CURE, International, which helps people with Hydrocephalus and club foot, among other things. So I was thinking that it would be good to have products on Cafepress that have Hydrocephalus, club foot, Spina Bifida, and volunteering. However, I'm not limited to that. If you have an idea for a product, an image or quote you'd like on a shirt, mug, or anything else, let me know.

Sorry for time between posts

I am sorry it has been so long since I posted. To be honest, I have been at a loss as to how best to use this blog to promote my idea(s) for an organization. I was looking forward to sharing ideas with people on how best to get started, and I've been letting the fact that I'm not getting any comments get me down. This has happened for two reasons: 1. I've never been good at trusting my own instincts, so I admit I've been looking for encouragement through "Yeah, I like that idea" or "Good job" comments that haven't come. 2. I often have GREAT ideas, but NO idea how to bring them to reality. That is what I'm facing in starting a non-profit. As such, I've been looking for people to be like, "have you thought of this?" "How about this?" "Have you done this?"

I'm done doing that. I'm also done only posting with SPECIFIC ideas and concepts. I *should* be posting every time I have a thought about the Foundation, and that's what I'm going to start doing... even if it's "I'm totally lost and don't know what to do next."

The "It Gets Better" Campaign

I would like to encourage everyone reading this blog to visit It Gets Better The "It Gets Better" Campaign was started in response to the increasing number of suicides by young people who have been victims of bullying.

While the original campaign targets GLBT youth, I think it is an important message for ANYONE who is being bullied for ANY reason. As a child, I was bullied for being disabled, liking the "wrong" music, having a crush on the "wrong" guy. As a high schooler, I was bullied for all those reasons, for being an Ally, and for having an AIDS ribbon on my backpack. I remember times when I felt like ending my own life because I just wanted the constant taunting to end.

If you were bullied as a young person, I would like to encourage you to create a "It Gets Better" video and post it to Facebook or YouTube. If you were a bully as a young person, and you have changed, make a video talking about why bullying is wrong and how/why/when you finally realized that and changed. Be as personal or vague as you want.

If you make a video, please find a way to include the URL for our Facebook Page AND It Gets Better Campaign even if it's just a piece of paper held up for ten seconds at the end. Then, if you have "liked" us on Facebook, please send us a message about your video, including a link to where we can view it.

We have a Facebook and Twitter presence!

If you have a Twitter account, please "follow" us on Twitter: @foundforchange
If you're on Facebook, please "like" our Facebook page: A Foundation for Change

We have a new logo!

Hey all! I am proud to announce we have a new and improved logo! It's much like the original one, but with a bit more "oomph!" to it. I'd like to give a BIG round of applause to Carolyn Day for her awesome work on this project. Carolyn and I graduated from high school together, and today she is an *awesome* graphic designer! Thanks again, Carolyn!

Crocheting Hats for CURE

I emailed CURE.org last night after a conversation with a friend left me wondering if they will even accept/use the hats we crochet. The response I got said that while they do NOT generally accept hat donations throughout the year, they DO do a "Knit for a CURE" campaign in February, during which time they collect as many hats as they can.

I don't think this should dissuade us from crocheting hats to donate to CURE. I signed up to receive notification of the start of the next "Knit for a CURE" campaign. I think we should crochet our little hearts out all year, then when the campaign starts we will have even more hats to donate.

In the meantime, if desired, we can also find another charity to help. A friend and I came up with the idea of creating bracelets to sell and donating the money to The TREVOR Project. I love this idea. When Carolyn finishes our logo, I'm planning on putting it on products on Cafepress. My thought was use half the money we make on Cafepress to buy yarn, and donate the rest to CURE. What do you all think?

Wondering

I do want to focus on crocheting hats for babies, however, I'm wondering if, since we're crocheting hats for babies with Hydrocephalus, should we include adult-sized hats as well? Since it's hard to determine how big a baby's head will be (due to the Hydrocephalus), maybe we should include all sizes? I just don't want us to crochet and send hats that end up being too small, and therefore unuseable. What do you all think?

CURE Organization

CURE is an organization that provides shunt surgery to people with Hydrocephalus in developing countries. This is the first organization we will be crocheting hats for. For now, we'll crochet baby hats only. Once we know how quickly we (as a team) can produce the hats, we can decide whether or not to crochet hats for older children and/or adults.

For now, those of us who crochet or knit will donate the hats as individuals. I talked to a woman from CURE this morning, and she said the address on the webpage is the address to mail the hats to. It is:

CURE
701 Bosler Avenue
Lemoyne, PA 17043

I am in the process of working with a friend to perfect our logo. After that is done, I will create mailing labels and business cards and send some of each out to each person who is crocheting for us. At that point, while we will continue having each individual mail out the hats they crochet, the donations will be made under the name of A Foundation for Change, instead of the individual. I hope this makes sense. If it doesn't, please feel free to ask for clarification.

An idea

I've found an organization called C.U.R.E. that provides the surgery for Hydrocephalus patients in developing countries. They are the first organization I would like to work with to create hats for patients with hydrocephalus. I wonder if they would be willing to provide T-shirts or some other small token to OUR volunteers?

Step 1 for A Foundation for Change

Goal: Donate hats I (and other volunteers) crochet to organizations that treat patients with Hydrocephalus in developing countries.

Looking for:

Contact information for organizations that send neurosurgeons to developing countries to perform shunt surgery (the treatment for Hydrocephalus) pro bono.

Links to crochet patterns for baby hats.

Links to inexpensive online yarn stores.

I would like to have a page/blog entry with links to other blogs dealing with abuse and/or disability. I've done a search through blogspot and wordpress. What other ones are there? I can use Copernic (search engine program) to search for related blogs on a given blog site pretty easily; I just need a list of blogging sites. Please comment with blog URLs! Thanks!

Need to find

I need to find websites that sell yarn inexpensively. Aside from ebay.com, can you think of any?

A Foundation for Change logo

This is the image I'd like to use for the Foundation logo. In American Indian beliefs, the butterfly represents transition and change. People with disabilities need to be willing and able to constantly adapt to changes. Sexual assault and abuse survivors will often tell you that the person they were before the assault or abuse no longer exists; it changes people. For those reasons, I chose the butterfly to represent the Foundation.

Colors: Purple represents Domestic Violence Awareness, Teal represents Sexual Assault/Abuse Awareness, Silver (NOT grey) represents Disability Awareness.