In May 2006 two ladies sat down over a cup of coffee to talk about Bono (U2) and how his work with the One Campaign and Global Fund had inspired them both to want to ‘do’ something to help people in Africa.
But what to do? How to make a difference? We came up with a WILD idea!
-photo courtesy of ICross Canada
I had been knitting Comfort Dolls for ICross Canada. They use the dolls instead of packing foam when they send shipments of HIV meds + delicate medical instruments to African clinics. Once the items are unpacked, each child gets their own doll. Many are AIDS orphans and/or HIV positive and it brings a small measure of comfort to them to have something truly their own.
Our idea was to contact actors and have them pose for a photo holding a comfort doll, then auction the photos to their fan club members and send proceeds to World Vision and Icross Canada. (at the time there were many tv programs filmed in our city so contacting actors didnt seem like much of a challenge)
We contacted Icross Canada’s founder, William Willabond and asked permission to use the dolls in this manner – a resounding yes! As we struggled to put the plan into action, we quickly changed the idea from actors to bands and musicians – the mgmt are easier to contact and musicians\bands have been musch more apt to want to give back.
How have we done so far? Come read. If you want to read our story in the right order (chronologically) you’ll have to start at the oldest blog entry and read to newest (blogs always put the newest one on top) so… I’ve added links to each ‘chapter’ in the blog roll to the right. —>
Also, look for links (up top) to other ‘pages’ for more info that isnt quite blogging material – and eventually a page about the ones that got away!
