Giving with an IMPACT through Noonday

by Emily Betzler November 11, 2013

When you satisfy the needs of the oppressed, your night will become like the noonday.

Isaiah 58:10

What a treat, we have another guest blogger today, Heidi Fry, from Bozeman, Montana. She will be driving down to Sheridan this weekend for the Give with IMPACT Holiday Market!!! Give with Impact2

I'm so excited to meet her in person and see all the goodies she will be bringing. She is an ambassador with Noonday Collection (one of my favorite companies ever - I have posted about them here, here and here!) Below Heidi tells us a little bit about herself and why she is so passionate about impacting the world through her work with Noonday. When I was little, my father guided mountains for a living. The really cool part about that was that most of the time, my sister and I got to go with him. We were blessed to travel the world throughout our childhood and into our young adult lives. Because of this, I met, experienced and interacted first hand with adult and children from other cultures. I remember being in awe at the amazing things that people in other countries created and being impressed with the fact that they still created things by hand! Along with this, I also saw people who were starving, children without families and/or homes and knew that when I grew up, I wanted to make a difference in lives around the world. I have spent my life doing just that, in one way or another. Last year, I felt that God was calling our family to be involved in advocating for orphaned and oppressed. I immediately became involved in a local adoption group and fell in love with the families who had opened their hearts and lives to the fatherless. I spent hours in prayer asking the Lord how I could minister to these families and still be able to help others. I stumbled across a company called Noonday Collection and my life was forever changed. Noonday was founded by an adopting mother who bought and sold goods from Rwanda to help raise funds for their adoption. She noticed how not only were these items gorgeous, but her purchases of them helped both the artisans in Rwanda as well as her adoption here in the USA. Her trunk shows became so popular that she launched the Noonday Collection, selling handmade goods, from select groups of artisans in vulnerable countries, all over the world. A portion of all sales go towards putting orphans in forever homes, empowering the poor through employment and giving people a safe and dignified work place to call their own. Noonday Collection trunk shows enable American women to advocate for these artisans by wearing, carrying or displaying their goods. It also enables families to fund raise for their adoptions since Noonday Collection will send 10% of an adoption trunk show's sales to that family's adoption agency. ***We will be supporting the Otto Family adoption at Give with IMPACT! Nelson Mandela said,

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

I absolutely love to educate! My involvement with Noonday enables me to education others about what poverty truly looks like and how these incredible artisans are working to pull themselves out! Here are a few great things to learn… Our purchasing power here in the USA enables these artisans to lift themselves out of poverty, to have access to medical care, child care, education and a living wage to care for their families with. These jobs enable mothers to care for and keep their children. In turn this can help decrease the 153 million orphans worldwide. Beautiful jewelry made from up-cycled artillery (shells from the conflict war, in farmers fields, melted down and mixed with metals) enable HIV+ women in Ethiopia to know that they have a future that is bright and hopeful. country-ethiopia

Our purchases enable families in Guatemala to use their phenomenal art of hand weaving to create gorgeous scarves for us to wear and be excited to tell others about. country-guatemala

The necklace that I am wearing is enabling a small group of artists in Ecuador to save for their children to be fed and educated. Talk about paying it forward! country-ecuador

My ten year old daughter's favorite purse was created by a woman in Rwanda who was able to go to sewing school on a scholarship and begin to sew for a living. You know what is the best part about that? When people ask her about it, she loves to tell people all about her purse. country-rwanda

As an ambassador for the Noonday Collection, my favorite emails are the ones with letters from our artisans updating us on their families and how their lives are changing. They absolutely melt my heart.

I am honored that so many women, ask me to come to their homes and communities to educate their friends and family about the changes that can be made simply by choosing to purchase items from a company that knows the names and children's names of the artists making their pieces. Not only do I get to educate but I am also able to help families raise funds for adoptions as Noonday Collection will donate up to 20% of sales to adopting families. On top of that, I will personally donate another 10% of all sales. I hope that when you are considering a small treat for yourself, a statement necklace for that little black dress or a holiday gift for friends and family that you will consider purchasing from the Noonday Collection. You can find their incredible fall/winter line HERE.