December 1, 2007
Over the past five years, Open Arms has maintained a tremendous partnership with Monkeybiz, an economic empowerment project based in Cape Town, South Africa. Beaders are trained, receive beads for free, and can work on their unique pieces from their homes, which reduces transportation and childcare costs for them. Open Arms then purchases the product outright, sells it for a profit at our event, then reinvests the proceeds back into our South Africa initiatives.
What would winter in Minnesota be without snow and blizzard-like conditions? Our 4th annual beaded art sale – held on December 1, 2007, at Calhoun Square, in recognition of World AIDS Day – opened right in the middle of the year’s biggest snow storm of the season.
But a little blizzard didn’t stop many. A crowd of folks waited for the Calhoun Square gates to open at 10:00 am, while our partners at Whole Foods Market Calhoun passed out juice and fresh-baked muffins. With smiles and full stomachs, customers entered the store and were greeted by our volunteers and nearly 2,000 handmade beaded dolls and animals. By 3:00 pm, we sold over 60% of our product, and hugged over 400 shoppers.
Visiting from South Africa this year was our friend and Monkeybiz ambassador, Eunice Mlotywa. Eunice demonstrated the art of beadwork and was truly delighted watching and engaging in the energy of the event. At one point she marveled at how their product could touch the lives of so many, so far away.
We extended the sale to the following weekend, and in total generated $58,000 in revenue, proof that with the combined generosity of sponsors, volunteers, and customers, we can indeed touch so many lives, so very far away.
