My Big Scary Dream
I have one big dream.
It’s not to have a million dollars (even though that would be nice).
It’s not to have a fancy car. (I drive a clunker and I don’t care)
It’s not to travel the world. (I hate flying)
My one big dream is to build a school for kids in need.
I was a third grade teacher for 10 years and have the heart of an educator. I love to teach, I love to learn, and love to see a child’s happy smiling face when they have been struggling to learn and they finally “get it.” I can already hear the questions in your head, Why did you quit teaching then? Why design? Why don’t you go back to teaching if you are so passionate about education? I will not get on an educational soap box right now because that is not what this is about, but just know that I left because it was right for me and my family and I do not regret it for one second. I love my little company and know in my heart this is where I am supposed to be. Since I started Hello World Paper Co. I have felt a deep calling to use my business as a way to help kids who do not have access to an education and who will not take the privilege of education for granted. There are millions of kids who dream about going to school, who would love to have a new book, a teacher that cares for them, and a beautifully sharpened pencil. Those are the kids I seek to help and I’m 100% positive I found a way to do it!
For a long time I have been giving 10% of my profits back to a different charity every month and while I loved the process of selecting a new charity and making those deep personal connection with people, my heart kept calling me back to one organization in particular. I really struggled with this question of should I keep spreading the love or focus on one big impactful dream? After many sleepless nights I have decided to take the plunge and pledge to build a school with Pencils of Promise.
Why Pencils of Promise?
Over 250 million children can’t read! 250 million!! That number sounds crazy to me! Books are my life people! I could not even imagine. I am constantly reading and have a deep love of books, I collect children’s books and also Young Adult fantasy books - vampires and wizards for the win! This alone is reason enough for me to push forward with my big huge scary dream of building a school. I cannot comprehend children who do not have access to all the amazing children’s literature out there! I’m so happy I found Pencils of Promise. Pencils of Promise works with communities across the globe to build schools and create programs with the goal of increasing access to quality education for children in the developing world. That is awesome! Another fabulous fact about Pencils of Promise is that 100% of the donations to our campaign will go towards building the school - 100%.
Each month until we have reached the $35K needed to build a school I will donate 10% of the company profits to our campaign. Wanna help? You can purchase products from any of our shops - Hello World Paper Co. or Hello World Stamps on Etsy or you can donate directly to the campaign through this link: https://fundraise.pencilsofpromise.org/helloworldpaperco
I promise to keep you updated on our progress or you can visit the link above to check in on us. I started off the donations today and I hope that you will join me. NO amount is too small.
You could also help me out just by clicking on these buttons and sharing our campaign on Twitter or Facebook.