The Buy The Change/Sapphire Soul screening event for the movie Girl Rising was Thursday night at the Canton Cinema. One of the attendees was our beautiful product model Anna King. Anna stepped up for us again and made sure everyone received a raffle ticket when they came through the door. Our other swag assistant for the evening was Waverlee Baron-Galbavi who did a fantastic job of handing out brochures and gift certificates to all the guests.
It was a humbling experience to watch the faces of friends and loyal customers come through the door. Tickets were purchased through the Girl Rising website so we didn’t have a list of who was attending. We had heard from many friends and were expecting them, but there were wonderful surprises as well. There is something beyond words about asking for support for something we care deeply about and seeing it happen.
A total of 178 tickets were purchased which means $1780 went directly to the Girl Rising organization. We are glad to have participated in raising this amount of money in one evening but even more important is the hope that every person who saw the movie left the theater inspired to be part of the solution, whatever that already is, or turns out to be.
Girl Rising tells the stories of nine girls in developing countries who are committed to education and the opportunities it can bring. There is Wadley in Haiti, who at age 8 refuses to stop going to school, even though her mother does not have the money to pay the school fees after the earthquake there. There is Amina in Afghanistan, who was married at age 11 to an older cousin and gave birth to her first child at age 12, yet refuses to give up the idea that her life can be different and better. There is Suma in Nepal, who was sold by her family at age 6 into a system called Kamlari which turns girls into domestic slaves. Suma was rescued and is now receiving an education.
Every one of the nine stories remind us to be grateful for the ease in our daily lives.
We had a display table at the event to let people see a sample of Buy The Change products, and, of course, buy things if they cared to. We would be bad business people to pass up such a great pool of possible customers. We spoke with many people and sold many items but there were a few that stood out. There was a girl of about 9 or 10 who told me she had been born in Guatemala. She very much wanted to buy something made by a woman in Guatemala. There was a teenage girl who fell in love with our coffee bag messenger bag and came back to look at it many times before finally buying it and wearing it home. Many women expressed interested in hosting trunk shows.
All in all it was a stellar evening for us, for Buy The Change and for Girl Rising. We only had a moment to speak with Allison after the event but I hope it was as good for her and Sapphire Soul.
Here is a pic of Kari, at the Buy The Change table. Thanks to Val Kiley for always being the one to get photo documentation of anything and everything happening in her presence. Thanks too, to Kim Lazarz for all the work she does for the Buy The Change Foundation and Sharon Rondeau, Megan Shipley and Denise Crissman for helping us set up and man the table so we could mingle a bit with our guests.
Most of all, Thank you to you!
Kari and Shanan
P.S. Join us on our journey! We want every woman to have a happy, peaceful and empowered life. You can join us and support our cause in many ways: host a trunk show, spread the word about our mission and the importance of buying fairly-traded products, become an affiliate, follow Buy The Change on Facebook and Twitter, sign up for our mailing list, subscribe to our blog, and shop online!
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