Last week, as the world got somehow even more uncertain and chaotic, I kept myself busy and therefore sane by working on our partnership with Every Mother Counts. I worked on riveting tiny leather button tabs to tiny backpacks, cutting tiny floral straps to size, stamping the fronts of little wooden boxes, and nestling mini animals onto their mattresses. I also got to chat with some of the winning bidders from our custom animal auctions for EMC, and began to sketch their custom animals and figure out any special material sourcing. 

This is our second year working formally with Every Mother Counts. Their mission is to promote safe and respectful maternity care for pregnant people around the world. So many people have dangerous, traumatic, or even fatal birth outcomes - for want of fairly simple interventions like a midwife with access to clean water to wash her hands, or a doula to provide support and advocacy at a big scary (structurally racist) hospital. EMC identifies smaller organizations that are working to fix these inequities on the ground, and sends them grants so they have enough money to do their work. We're honored to leverage our busy season to be a part of this. 

This year, our partnership has three parts. First, we held auctions on Instagram for five custom animals, with 100% of the money raised going to EMC. Not only did we raise a lot of money, I was delighted to learn that the winners really wanted to support the mission of EMC. Several of them had worked with a few friends or family members to place the winning bid, because they shared a belief that this was important. They were excited about their custom animals, don't get me wrong, but I really got a sense that they primarily wanted to support a good cause.

Second, we released a collection of three mini animals, available individually or in a box set; a Hazelnuts exclusive mini panda; and two organic cotton carrying packs. 20% of revenue from all these items is earmarked for EMC. All these items sold about twice as fast as we expected! We still have some stock left and we're restocking what we can.

Third, we're working with EMC and their virtual gala platform to auction off a Hazel Village birthday party! Bidding is open to anyone, on December 1, 2020. You can find more details are available on EMC's website. 

So, that's what we're doing. I already told you about some of the fringe benefits, like how the associated mountain of tasks kept me sane and how I had some lovely conversations with auction winners. But as for the real results: we have already raised over $20,000! We won't know the final numbers until we sell through the mini animal collection and the birthday party auction is over. But friends, that's real money! And it's been so fortifying to see all of you coming together and pitching in to make it happen. Such decency and goodwill toward our fellow humans! Maybe there is hope for us. Thank you, friends!