The Story of a 15 Year Old…..

Earlier, I told you about the God’s Littlest Angels online store that we’ve kicked off today. If you missed it, check it out at http://godslittlestangelsstore.com/. Everything that you buy on the site will help the children at GLA.

I want to share with you a little bit of the story of how it came to be……..

I’ve been on the board for GLA since 2006 and over that time, we have talked on a number of occasions how it would be a good addition to our “tool box” to have the ability to to sell Haitian things and GLA things online. But, the time and the opportunity to get one set up have never presented themselves.

Jump forward to 2011. There’s a teenager from “up north” (meaning north of where I live – Michigan) who went down to GLA and volunteered. The kids touched her heart and she wanted to do something more to make a difference.

While she was there, she and Molly and Joyce decided to have some of the kids draw some covers to be used for birthday cards, thank you cards and bookmarks. If you want to see some pictures of them while they are at work, go to http://godslittlestangelsstore.com/the-artists and watch the pictures.

Jenna got home and designed some of the cards and then began selling them at her school and some local places. At that point, she shared with me what she was doing and the reaction that she was getting to the cards. She and I then started talking and working on the idea of taking the cards “online” and being able to use an extended support network of GLA friends and family to further the cause of the kids at GLA and raise money to help pay for the cost of caring for the kids.

We tried a number of different “shopping cart” models and couldn’t find one that was relatively low maintenance. It’s kind of a logistical challenge when the financial side of things is in Colorado and the people printing the cards are in Canada.

After trying a number of different systems, it then took quite a bit of Jenna’s time to get all of the cards designed and loaded on the system. And she had to do that all while keeping really busy with normal high school activities.

Why am I telling you this?

• Not because Jenna is doing this to draw attention to herself. She doesn’t even want me to tell this much of the story. To quote Carol Tweitmeyer of Project Hopeful – “It’s not about me.”
• Because it’s really neat to see that someone who isn’t even “an adult” can take the initiative and put together a project that is going to impact the lives of children for years to come.
• Because this is a very simple and easy thing that everyone can do. Help the kids at GLA by doing two things:
  • Buy some cards – even if you can only afford to buy 2 of them, do it. Go to http://godslittlestangelsstore.com and order them.
  • Use them to wish your friends or family a Happy Birthday. Use them to thank someone for something they have done for you. When you do, make sure they look at the back of the card and realize that the card you gave them benefits some really cute and cool kids in Haiti who need our help.

Never underestimate the power of one person to make a difference.

No matter how old that person is.

And thank you for your support of our Angels.

Tom

P.S. I hope to have another blog post up soon about the “next” step that I want to accomplish in using the GLA Store to help us cover the cost of caring for our children. In case you didn’t know, I’m excited about it!

Want to make a difference for the kids in Haiti? Consider donating.