When I started Arias Design Co nearly a year ago I had the intention of using it as a vessel that could help support other organisations via donations raised from the sale of our earrings.
The support Arias Design Co has received from you has been incredible and it's so exciting being able to share the totals so far (there's a sentence I didn't think I'd be writing a year ago!!). Thank you thank you THANK you for the orders and encouragement. With your help we've raised funds and awareness for three different - but each wholly worthwhile - causes in our first year.
Lending an Ear for Better Mental Health
As you may know, our Lend an Ear campaign is an initiative that means 20% of the profits from our handmade clay earrings are donated directly to the Mental Health Foundation. You can rear more about the Mental Health Foundation and how we support them here. This year, the total of our donations was $866.22 what an incredible result! And it's completely down to you guys. It's really cool to see what's possible and I'm SO looking forward to continuing to support the MHF this year.
Sunflowers For Ukraine
We launched an impromptu fundraiser in early March after learning about the story of a Ukrainian woman encountering Russian soldiers early on in the war and offering them sunflower seeds. The immediate response was absolutely amazing, and March was spent making sunflower earrings and shipping them out not only to New Zealand, but to three international destinations too!
So far, you have raised a total of $2018.70 for children in Ukraine.
100% of proceeds from this collection already have been or will be donated to Voices For Children. They recently posted an update on their website of their actions since the invasion and have recently focusing their efforts on helping women and children escape - so a huge thank you to everybody who ordered a pair of Sunflowers For Ukraine. Your money has gone directly towards helping save lives.
Earrings For Education
In July of last year, our Kaleydo Collection was launched. This was a collection of ocean inspired earrings all priced at $25, in hopes of raising $1000 (estimated conversion from NZ dollars) to order to pay diploma tuition fees for a friend who lost his job around the same time as his baby girl was born, as a result of the pandemic. He is hoping to study so he can provide more stability for his new family and thanks to you has already completed his first year. The next years tuition is due in August 2022, so look out for this fundraiser again in the coming months!
It absolutely blows my mind to look back at the support you have given for these causes. I mean it from the bottom of my heart when I say I am SO grateful for every single order, and every single boost of encouragement, shares, likes - all of it! It's amazing, so thank you.