Join the Discussion

We. love. our. customers.

Yep, we do. They are a passionate bunch, and they are willing to put their money where their mouth is. We've been asked multiple times, "what else can I do?" "where do I donate money/time?" I've always sent them elsewhere, to one of the organizations that we support with our funds as well. But now we are ready. We are ready to grow and to let others in on the grassroots excitement. Well..we are ready to talk about it.

We have plans for 2010 to be a non-profit (Dignity Regained) with a for-profit arm (Dignity Regained - The Shop). At least we think this will be how it is set up. So we need your input. We need your skills, passions, dreams, and thoughts on matters of Fair Trade, trafficking, and responsible consumerism. We need people who want a place to get involved, start something big, and work with others.

We'll let you know where and when the (ongoing) discussion will happen (online). But first we want you to pray about it. Seriously and really. If you are totally excited to get involved and ready to stick around for a while, take a breath and pray. If you are still stoked about our mission and want to help out, check back in a couple days and we'll let you know where to go.

If you have any questions, email me: tammy@dignityregained.org

We are so excited to work with you all!

P.S. Our "India on my Heart" T's are now available for purchase.

2010

2009 was a difficult, yet wonderful year for Dignity Regained. Our newest "member" of the team joined us, Henry was born on June 23rd. He has added challenges as well as motivation towards our purpose. We added Indie Edition to our store, which is very exciting. And we had a very successful and productive Christmas season.

We are really looking forward to 2010. There is a lot stirring in the brain and the heart. We will be updating the store with some baskets, clothing, some fantastic new Indie Edition products, and some other projects that we are very excited to work on but are keeping them on the down low for now.

If you are an Independent Artist interested in having your products in our shop, please contact us. Some of the items we are looking for are letterpress prints and cards, faux bois, spring clutches and fascinators.

December

It has been a busy busy Christmas Season here at Dignity Regained! It has been wonderful and our customers (you!) have been so supportive.

In the beginning of December I had the opportunity to bring some of our products to a meeting held by InterVarsity Staffers in California. I set up a table in the corner of the room at dinner time and they totally stepped up to the plate. They were so generous, lovers of Fair Trade and justice, and it showed. It was such a blessing for me to see that and feel their support.

Then I returned from California back to Illinois and hit the ground running. We teamed up with a Mary Kay consultant and had another House Party here in Morton. Another success. It worked out well because the very next morning we had a holiday sale at Eli's Coffee Shop. We had customers in droves for the first couple of hours. My heart always bursts when I see people excited to learn about what Fair Trade can do for women around the world, and how much they love their beautiful handiwork.

Here are some pictures from the holiday sale.

Thank you to everyone who came out and supported us at these three events, to Rob for inviting me to the IV meeting, to Jamie for hostessing our House Party, to Katie at Eli's for always opening her door to us, and to our online customers. You guys rock! I had so much fun this year packaging up online orders and sending them out.

So this week we are taking a breath, hanging out with out little man, and picking up my sister and her hubs at the airport for a fun and relaxing Christmas week with them.

Merry Christmas everyone!
Tammy

Happenings

I had the opportunity to guest blog about our first Fair Trade House Party HERE.

We had a couple new additions to Indie Edition! I'm loving this new section of our store.

One is a beautiful bracelet from Rachel at Elephantine. *Check out her super cute blog.*

Four great new items from Christine at Eye Pop Art! *Who also has a super fun blog!*

Join me in supporting these great women artists. There is also more Indie Edition in the works!

The H-man and I are headed out Wednesday morning to California for a month to see the fam. Brian will be joining us for two weeks in the middle. We are packing up the store and bringing it along, so remember to check back for a Black Friday sale the day after Thanksgiving. I'll be posting more about that soon.

We've got a giveaway coming up as well, keep your eyes peeled!

Tammy

First House Party

Huge thanks to Cali who hostess-ed our first ever Fair Trade House Party. We had a nice intimate sized group of ladies who came and listened to me talk myself in circles about how much I love Fair Trade. While there was a little shopping involved since I brought a lot of our inventory, the main focus was on just giving the basics of what Fair Trade is, what trafficking is, how the two relate, and how Dignity Regained was started. I'm working on getting our story written down so that we can have a section on our website so our webbie customers (that's you!) can read all about it. It's a pretty cool story so I'm excited to share!

But right now I'm going to sit and work on some orders since the sickie hubbie is in bed, and the baby boy is asleep as well.

Tammy

Starting Fresh

It almost the busy holiday shopping season again, and we are so excited to be up and running again. We are starting fresh with a new website, and a new blog.

Another new and exciting part of our store is called ::Indie Edition:: You can read more about the purpose of this section on our website, but I wanted to tell you that this is something that has been brewing in my mind for a long time now. It is starting small, but we've got a lot in store for the next year.

Speaking of this next year. Our theme of 2010 will be "India On My Heart". We will be introducing some great T-Shirts in a couple of weeks, and will be having some local events related to this theme.

Thanks for supporting Fair Trade (and now Indie)!

Tammy