Toilets and Micro-Loans ~ Happy New Year 2012!

I feel so blessed. Every day I look at what I have and couldn't feel more blessed. The thing is, I have too much. Way too much. I love being able to give. I want to give and actually make a big difference. This year I have been really interested in the ministries that make tangible progress in achieiving their goals. I love the idea that a ministry can set out with a mission, and even have a course of action and timeline for when their mission will be completed. And of course, once you finish helping one community, one village, or one city, what next? You move on to the next. If we all work together, then one by one, child by child, village by village, we can "seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." (Isaiah 1:18) A while back I did a Mud Run with some friends, it was invigorating and freeing to run, jump, crawl and slosh through pools and piles of mud. After the race, I found a pamphlet on my bathroom floor and it must have come from my race packet. It was from a ministry called StarFysh. The pamphlet grabbed my heart and it hasn't let go. That is why Rylee's Collection is choosing Starfysh as the ministry to give a percentage of every single sale I have made this past year. (Find more info on StarFysh at http://starfysh.org) The best part about this, is that as I was looking at their Facebook page, I saw this post: "Now through the end of the year we're designating every gift that comes through our online PayPal donation account to help us build 400 latrines for villages on the island. With a lack of clean water, it's no wonder that diarrhea (typhoid fever, cholera, worms, hepatitis, among others) kills more kids here than any other disease. Help us make a difference. $20 - one family gets a latrine. $100 - five families. $2000 will provide an ENTIRE VILLAGE with latrines. Donate today! We appreciate your support!" I am so excited to help get this village their latrines!! Thank you for all of your support this past year, and please visit StarFysh's website if you're interested in learning more or giving to their cause.****************************************************************************************The second mission that was chosen this year is www.kiva.org. Rylee's Collection made micro-loans to empower entrepreneurs with very limited resources to build their businesses, increase their profits, and help provide for their families.The loan gets repaid 100%, but you can choose to just put the money right back in to make a new loan to another entrepreneur! I love the idea that as a woman and entrepreneur myself, I can give and assist other women (and men, too), in their businesses. Loans can be as little as $25 - check it out!!

Happy New Year!

I need to say a big end of the year THANK YOU to all of my amazing customers and supporters for a fantastic and FUN year! I hope that this posting finds you happy, healthy and looking forward to a new year. I also wanted to take some time to let you know what your purchases from Rylee's Collection have made possible. PLEASE READ ON!

I believe that we all have a calling to give from whatever means we have to help the poor, the needy, and the broken. This calling can look different for every person, sometimes it is monetary, and sometimes it is giving of our time. As part of this calling, it is my personal commitment that as I close out each calendar year of business, I will prayerfully choose a mission or charity to donate a portion of all sales to directly impact those in need. This year, I have chosen the mission of 20liters.org. In giving to this mission, all donations are used in helping families in Rwanda build and maintain water filtration systems that either filter rainwater or water collected from ponds and rivers. To learn more about their mission please visit: www.20liters.org/why.

Did you know that 1 in 8 people lack access to clean water?
Did you know that dirty water kills more people each year than all forms of violence (including war) combined?

It is hard to imagine what life would be like without access to clean water. Every day we take luxuriously hot showers, and drink, cook, and clean from our always-on-hand tap water.

This stat made me think:
• In just one day, more than 200 million hours of women’s time is consumed for the most basic of human needs — collecting water for domestic use. This lost productivity is greater than the combined number of hours worked in a week by employees at Wal*Mart, United Parcel Service, McDonald’s, IBM, Target, and Kroger, according to Gary White, co-founder of Water.org.
As a mother and woman who mostly stays at home to take care of my family, I am humbled as I think about all of the times I wish I could just get “some time to myself!” How crazy to think that many, many women around the globe are spending so many hours of their precious time COLLECTING WATER. This is such a basic need they are providing for their family, and for many it takes SOO much time. Not to mention that often this water is not even safe to drink. I am unable to fully comprehend this, but it does make me very thankful for all of the many resources God has made so readily available to me and my family.

FINALLY FOR THE GOOD NEWS: Together, we were able to provide access to clean water to 140 people for up to 10 YEARS!

If you feel prompted to give, please visit the website www.20liters.org and make your contribution!

Thank you for a wonderful year and many blessings to you!
Kara

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GIVEAWAY!!

Enter to win a TRIO of the new and improved Nylon Interchangeable Headbands!

Colors are white, ivory, and light pink. These new headbands are the same great fabric as before, only there is no longer a ribbon loop. I carefully hand-sew each headband so that the loop is created by the nylon fabric. This means that only silky soft nylon touches your babies head!! These headbands are also in a great size (slightly larger) so they will still fit newborns, but can accommodate heads a bit larger as well. I recommend these for every babies first year!

Four ways to enter:

1) Post a comment here on the blog!

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4) Place an order this week. Get two entries for this!

Do all FOUR and get FIVE entries into the drawing! :)

FREE GIVEAWAY!

Win a Crochet Headband with Gerber Flower clip!!


Simply comment on this post with your email address included. You must also become a Facebook Fan of Rylee's Collection! Visit here to become a fan!


If I can get to 200 fans on Facebook I will do another giveaway! Suggest the fan page to all of your friends to increase your chances of winning!

Oh yeah, you must enter the drawing by Saturday, April 24!

SPRING 2010 PRODUCTS ARE HERE!

I'm so excited to introduce a BUNCH of new spring products! They are now available online at http://www.ryleescollection.com/. (They will be added to my etsy shop soon!)

Welcome Emmalyn Marie!

My second daughter, Emmalyn or "Emmy", was born on February 10th, 2010. I have closed down the websites for the remainder of the month in order to focus on being a mommy of two! So far it has been a wonderful mix of sleepless nights and great blessings!

There are bunch of fun new spring products that I am hoping to have ready to debut sometime in March. Stay tuned - and sign up for my monthly newsletter to be notified when they are available! You can do so by entering your email address in the form on the righthand side of this screen.