Thank you for your support!

As many of you know by now, I am committed to giving back to the community with both Two Cheeky Monkeys and Domum Vindemia by supporting charitable funds that help those in need.  This year, thanks to your amazing support of my businesses, I have been able to support four aid and advocacy organisations!

The first is the ZOE Foundation, an organisation which seeks to prevent the trafficking of children in Thailand as well as rescuing, caring for and rehabilitating unfortunate children who have already been trafficked to Thailand.

The second is the Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation which provides free treatment, counselling and physiotherapy and obstetric care to women who have suffered an obstetric fistula and to those who fall pregnant again after recovering from their surgery.

The last two organisations are ones which I have supported in the past, World Vision and Barnabas Fund, both of which work alongside NGOs in Africa, Asia and the middle East to help the underprivileged and oppressed in these areas.  So on behalf of these organisations, THANK YOU for helping me to help them!

Helping those in need

As 2017 draws to a close, I wanted to take the opportunity to thank all of my supporters for all your encouragement this year.  And for everyone who has supported Two Cheeky Monkeys and Domum Vindemia through making purchases, an extra special thanks goes to you for helping me to support some worthy charitable causes too!

So far this year, our beautiful customers have helped us to support Samaritan's Purse, World Vision and SIM Australia in the work they do to fight poverty and exploitation in Asia and Africa.  It means a lot to me to know that Two Cheeky Monkeys and Domum Vindemia can help to fight for those less fortunate, even if it is in little ways.  So THANK YOU for your support in this important work!

Those you have helped this past year

Once again I am posting a "thank you" post to all my beautiful supporters who have promoted my stores, made purchases and continued to boost my visibility on social media with your comments, re-posts and so on.  I am so thankful for all of your support and wanted to show you others whom you have also helped this past financial year.

As many of you know, I aim to give 10% of profits to aid organisations each year.  This year, my customers have helped to support World Vision Australia's work in Asia and Africa, TEAR Australia's work in Laos, Mozambique and India, and Barnabas Fund's work with Syrian refugees.

So thank you all, from the bottom of my heart!  Not just for supporting Two Cheeky Monkeys and Domum Vindemia, but for helping me to help those who do not know the privileges that we take for granted every day.

Helping those in need

Just a little update today for all of my faithful customers and supporters.  As you know, ten percent of Two Cheeky Monkeys and Domum Vindemia profits each year go to helping aid and advocacy organisations working to help the poor and oppressed.  Thanks to your support and custom, this last financial year I have so far managed to support two Barnabas Aid projects.

These two projects are quite different from each other; the first project is currently sending emergency relief to those affected by the severe flooding which hit Myanmar in June and July, while the second project is currently providing food parcels for Syrian refugees fleeing the heinous atrocities being committed by the Islamic State radicals.

Thanks to you, heartbroken and destitute men, women and children will receive the financial help they so desperately need at this time.  To see how your custom has helped to support charity work over the years, and continues to do so while our business doors remain open, I have set up a new "charity" page on this blog.  Thank you again.

Girls Off The Streets

Most long term readers of my blog will know that as a Christian who has the privilege of living in a "developed" nation where I can easily access everything I need or want, I feel very strongly about giving back some of my handmade business profits to those in need.  I am definitely not a superhero; I do it because of God's call to help the needy and downtrodden.  And I blog about it to thank all of my supporters and customers for helping me to help others.  (And hopefully you will be spurred on to find aid organisations and charities you can help out too.)

This year I have decided to suport the Girls Off The Streets project being run by SIM Australia.  This project seeks to protect, care for and rehabilitate girls who have been rescued from trafficking and sex slavery in India and Bangladesh.  As a mother of young daughters, and as a female who grew up in a very safe environment, I am horrified at the traumas inflicted on these poor girls, some barely older than my own children.  My hope in supporting this aid project is that in my own small way, I can help to put a stop to this vile trade and help those caught up in it to escape and learn to lead a safe and normal life which so many of us take for granted.
So thank you again to all of you out there who so loyally support Two Cheeky Monkeys and Domum Vindemia and in so doing, also help those who are in dire need.

Water for life - Giving back to those in need

With the new financial year starting today, I realised that I have been very lax in thanking all of my customers for your wonderful support during the previous financial year.  As is my usual habit, I also want to remind you that your support of my stores also means support will be given to help those in desperate need.

This year I have decided to lend my support the Water Project Fund being run by Barnabas Fund, an international Christian aid and advocacy organisation working in many developing nations around the world.  The Water Project Fund provides clean drinking water for impoverished people in Asia and the Middle East either by digging wells for villages in need or by establishing water connections direct to people's homes.  Having easy access to clean water is something I take for granted, but for those helped by Barnabas Fund it is a dream they cannot achieve without help from others.  So thank you again for not only supporting me, but for providing much needed clean water to families in need.

Empower International Fundraiser

Today I wanted to let you all know about a handmade fundraiser in which I'm participating.  This Tuesday, 1st of July (AEST), there will be a camel-themed fundraiser organised by The Crafty Camel and Outback Australian Camels to support the work of Empower International (are you seeing where the camel theme is coming from?).

The fundraiser will be run via The Crafty Camel's Facebook page, where there will be an album of camel-inspired handmade goodies up for auction for one week.  Bidding on items starts on the 1st of July and all proceeds will go to the work Empower International does to help end child sex slavery in Asia, a very worthy cause.  As you know, I'm not in the habit of making camel homewares or jewellery, so I've decided to contribute by crocheting a camel-coloured apple cozy (okay, so maybe I'm stretching the theme a little).  I've had a sneak peek at some of the other creations on offer and there are going to be quite a few delightful offerings for the auction - so I look forward to seeing you online come auction night!

Crocheting For a Cause - Part 2

 

Do you remember this post from two weeks ago?  Well, after almost two weeks of what felt like constant crocheting (amazing how much "free" time one has when one is recovering from foot surgery!), I finally finished the crocheted shawl destined for the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital.  There were a few moments of angst when I thought the project would never end (have I mentioned before that I am a bad finisher of things???), but I made it and am proud to say that my count of large crocheted items has now risen to two, he he he.

 

If I decide to make another shawl for the hospital next year (shawl collection happens twice a year so that they can be shipped to Ethiopia in bulk), I think I might find a pattern which can keep me a little more interested while I make it.  (Having lots of old NCIS episodes to watch, as well as watching the 100th Tour de France with Mr Cheeky Monkeys helped too!)  But in the mean time, I hope you will all sit back and enjoy the photos of my "Licorice Allsorts" shawl with me.

Crocheting For A Cause

Since I finally learned to crochet more than a basic chain of stitches last year, I have been gradually increasing my skills by trying out various crocheted projects.  My projects have been increasing in difficulty and physical size, with my largest and most ambitious project to date being my crocheted blanket.  Because crochet is a suitable pasttime for me while recuperating from foot surgery, I have several projects lined up for my period of convalescence, including a small crochet blanket/shawl.

This second blanket, however, is not for me or anyone I know, but is a project destined for Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia.  For those of you who haven't heard about this organisation, I encourage you to look through their website and do some research into obstetric fistulae.  Just briefly, an obstetric fistula is a medical condition which can occur when a woman goes through traumatic childbirth without proper medical care or intervention.  This condition is easily prevented in developed nations, but can still commonly occur in developing nations and is especially prevalent in many African countries.

Hamlin Fistuala Ethiopia supports the work of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia, the only hospital to exclusively treat and to help women recover from this debilitating condition.  The hospital not only treats women suffering from obstetric fistulae, but also has a midwifery training college which trains up competent birth attendants who can greatly help to improve the medical situation for pregnant women in Africa.

As a woman who received impeccable medical care during my pregnancies and labours, I am horrified that many women are not so fortunate.  I wanted to help and was pleased to find that I could help in a crafty, creative way.  So after my very long ramble, let me explain how crochet can help!  Not only does the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital treat the medical conditions of the women who come to them, but the hospital also provides each patient with gowns and shoes to wear during their hospital stay and a knitted or crocheted shawl to keep and take home with them.  Those of you who knit or crochet, can whip up a special shawl (or small blanket) for these needy women to show them that someone on the other side of the world cares.  There are specific requirements for the shawls (because these women can't afford much, let alone a washing machine), so please look through the various websites listed below for information.  If you can't knit or crochet, there are other ways to help out too, just look through their website.

Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia.

Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia on Facebook.

To Addis with love (a Facebook group for those wishing to make a shawl).

Thank you for helping me to help others

Back in August I was excited to reach some special milestones in my Two Cheeky Monkeys stores and I promised that I would tell you a bit more about how your purchases from both Domum Vindemia and Two Cheeky Monkeys go towards helping those who are in need.  But firstly, I would like to say THANK YOU once again to everyone who has made a purchase from my stores or from me in person.  You helped me to make a profit this last financial year - amazing!  Customer sales give me a big smile, help me to support my craft habit (he he he) and, most importantly, they also help those less fortunate than myself.

 

As I mentioned in that blog post back in August, I like to use some of my business profits to support charities which have a special place in my heart.  The first of these organisations is TEAR Australia, a "Christian development, relief and advocacy organisation responding to global poverty and injustice".  This year I have specifically supported their education and literacy work in Zimbabwe, India and Bangladesh.  As someone who has been privileged to receive education at pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary levels, it saddens me to see that many around the world do not have the opportunity to receive even the most basic education due to poverty or prejudice.

 

 

I also decided to support The Forgotten Cancers Project, an initiative being run by the Cancer Council of Victoria.  This project aims to study the causes of less common cancers in the hopes of eventually developing treatments and methods of early diagnosis.  I was excited to hear about The Forgotten Cancers Project because, as many of you know, I lost my beloved dad to an aggressive and comparatively rare cancer last year.  I was also extremely interested in this project because, having studied and worked in cancer research (in what feels like a lifetime ago), I know just too well how complex the field of cancer research is and how hard it can be to gain funding for research into a disease when there are few or no survivors to petition the government for funds.

 

On that note, I want to thank you all again for supporting my small home business.  It is gratifying to know that so many people love what I do and even more gratifying to know that I can support two causes which mean so much to me too.

Giving Cheer to Others - Operation Christmas Child

As department stores start reminding us how many weeks there are left till Christmas and to get our Christmas shopping done early (Have you considered buying handmade? How about something from Two Cheeky Monkeys or Domum Vindemia? Wink, wink, giggle.) there are many around Australia and around the world who have started thinking about Operation Christmas Child.  I was so sure that I had mentioned Operation Christmas Child on my blog in the past, but have not been able to find my last post, so apologies if any of this is giving you deja vu.

 

 

Operation Christmas Child (OCC) is a program run every year by Samaritan's Purse, a charitable organisation which began in the USA but now has branches in multiple countries around the world.  The aim of OCC is to provide needy children, from a variety of countries, with a smile at Christmas time by giving them a box full of new clothes, toys, school supplies and other useful items.  My church has been encouraging members to take part for many years now, as has Monkey #1's school, and my kids love choosing items for children whom they know they will probably never meet.  For those of you who love to create, what better opportunity to use your crafty skills than to whip up a handmade toy, piece of clothing, hair accessories, etc. to add to a box!

 

 

For those of you who are thinking, "Helping out those in need at Christmas is one thing, but what happens to these people the rest of the year?", well, that is a great question to ask!  You could consider supporting charitable organisations such as World Vision, Samaritan's Purse or Compassion Australia year round through their child sponsorship or community aid programs.  Or you could organise for people from your child's school, your place of work or your sports team to contribute together and make a difference as a group.  The possibilities really are endless.



Wishlist Wednesday With a Difference...

Every Christmas and on birthdays my family and I like to joke about who is going to receive a pig or a goat that year.  No, we don't live on farms and we're not into "alternative" pets, the joke stems from the way my dad advertised a charitable cause at church one Christmas.

While I LOVE to receive presents for my birthday, at Christmas time and generally all year round (and who doesn't?), I often need to be reminded that, living in Australia, I am very blessed with so many material possessions.  Therefore, this week's Wishlist Wednesday highlights some charitable "gifts" people can purchase which help those in need in areas dear to my heart.

Piglet from World Vision (I couldn't resist, he he)

Sewing Machine from Compassion Australia

Village Health Worker from Tear Australia