Moving again..

…our blog that is.  Sorry to those who have followed us around, but we are heading back to blogspot. 

Our updated blog is HERE.  Or if you want to view it from within the store it’s HERE.

Thanks!
Tammy

Fall Giveaway Winner

Decision made via Random.org:

Sarah!!

“The crisp air and vibrant colors of fall are my favorite…we also seem to be able to dress more creatively when fall rolls around…which I love!!!”

I happen to know Sarah, having worked with her at Eli’s.  And she’s pretty much **awesome**.  And she is a fun creative dresser like her comment said. 

Hope you love your journal Sarah!

Fall Giveaway

We are so excited to be back up and running.  And we love our customers, so we’ll be doing a couple of giveaways leading up to Christmas so keep you eye out!  We’ll start it off with my favorite journal. 
Cruelty-free leather, tree-free pages, and the color of fall. 

All you have to do is write a comment and tell me what your favorite part of the fall season is.  Then check back on Tuesday the 20th to see if you won!  (It’s a totally random winner, so let the comments fly!)

Sidewalk Sale Success

Thanks to everyone who braved the bugs and came out to our Pumpkin Festival Sidewalk Sale.  It was a huge success. 

Highlights included:

Seeing some of our regulars who gave a lot of encouragement and got to see Henry.
Everyone who signed up for our email list entered a raffle, congrats to our winners: Jackie, Kelly and Rachael
Our top selling item: Recycled Cotton Wrapping Paper, came in with 30…left with 3.
Over $800 in sales!  This allows the store to buy new products, pay for expenses, and most importantly..give to organizations who are fighting trafficking.  Because of your shopping, Dignity Regained is able to give Hagar International $100 towards their efforts in the fight against the abuse and trafficking of women.  Click HERE to read more about their work.

We hope to have another sale at Eli’s before Christmas.  We’ll keep you posted!

Check back to our blog next week for a giveaway!

Tammy for Dignity Regained

Bugs at the sale!

Pumpkin Festival Sidewalk Sale!

Hi there!  Long time no see.

Sorry for the extended absence of Dignity Regained.  If you haven’t already heard we had our little Henry on June 23rd and he is of course gorgeous.    You can read more about him on HERE.

For all you local Peorians/Mortonites (is that what we are even called) we are having a sidewalk sale at Eli’s Coffee Shop on Friday September 18th from 10am till dark.  We will have lots of new items as well as everyone’s favorites from last year: Color Splash Sari Sling Bags, Recycled Rice Bags Totes and colorful jewelry.  We are carrying all items in limited quantity so come early!  If you wanted something but missed out on it, talk to me and I’ll see if I can get it ordered for you.  See you there!

If you have been looking for products on our website: we are working to get that back online.  Hoping to have it done in time for Fair Trade Month which is October.

Thanks for supporting fair trade!
Tammy

**If you read the post below about the project we were working on, disregard the timeline.  I decided we need more time with our lil one before we jump into that.  More info at a future time.

Change…

Dignity Regained has been somewhat stagnant for a while now.  As many of you know we moved our inventory out of our space above Eli’s Coffee Shop in Morton and have moved back to online only.  We had a couple of reasons for doing this, but the biggest one is the much anticipated soon to be arrival of our first little one this coming summer.  Along with my pregnancy has come very severe morning sickness that brought the shop to a halt and then set us back a bit.  It was a bummer around the holiday shopping season. 

But the desire for a bit of change starting brewing way before that.  But I’ve been waiting, telling people I’m not exactly sure where we are headed.  I’m really good at “jumping the gun” and following an idea too quickly and then feeling silly when I should have thought it out a little more.  I don’t want to push things that shouldn’t be.  So I’ve waited.  But I think I finally know the direction in which we are headed.  I’m not quite ready to share yet.  I’ve still got some things to think through as well as pray about.  But I know something big is coming, and it will be quite different while remaining the same altogether.  Even though this particular idea just came tonight, I have a feeling it’s what I’ve been waiting to know.  Keep your eye out.  I hope to launch in the middle of April!

Cyber Monday

 

Trip’n

Road Trip Part One – Starting in Illinois, passing through

Indiana, Ohio, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine

Part Two – Starting in Maine, passing through

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania

Then one big long day back to Illinois from Philly. 

Out of sight, but not out of mind…

Even though the store is out of sight this week while we are travelling, I’m still thinking about it and our purposes.  I know the economy is tight and a lot is up in the air right now.  This has reflected in the store and what we have been able to give in the last couple of months.  “Just barely breaking even” is part of my weekly vocab.  But then I read stories that break my heart and know that if the store gives, and tries to be faithful to fulfill one of our purposes and hope it will work out ok.  (Last time the store took that leap, it came back to us the next day!)  I hope this touches your heart as well…

Yesterday I was reading the blogs I frequent.  One of my favs on my Google Reader is My Marrakesh written by a lovely woman named Maryam.  I’m always loving the Moroccan inspiration that she gives.  Currently she is visiting Rwanda and sharing some stories on her blog about what she is learning.  Please read her last few posts here and here and consider giving what you might be able to.  Her words ring true, “In a different dark life, in a different dark space, it could have been you, in Vestine’s place.   It could have been mein Vestine’s place.”  Your donation would go to AVEGA, which is a Rwandan NGO dedicated to widows of the genocide.  If you would like to give, you can do a PayPal transfer to Tammy.Cody@gmail.com, or if you would like to send a check, email me directly Tammy@dignityregained.org and I’ll let you know where you can send it, (checks can be written to “Dignity Regained”.)  Or if you are a Peoria local, stop by the shop next week and see me about giving to AVEGA.  Dignity Regained is going to start it off by giving $100.  If you’d like to send Maryam a note you can reach her at maryam@mtds.com. 

*Within the first hour we have already gotten the first donation!

Call and Response

In a comment from the last post, Fia pointed out the film Call + Response.  I’ve been on the mailing list for this film however Brian and I will be travelling the weekend it comes out so it slipped my mind to post about it.  So thanks Fia!  If you live near one of the cities where it will be playing please check it out and let me know how it went.  I hope that it inspires a lot of people to make love and concern for our world an action. 

Also.. the store (online and in Morton) will be closed from October 3rd to the 12th.  We are taking a much needed road trip to the East Coast.  I’ve never been east of Ohio, (except for visiting Washington DC last year, but I felt like I was in a city of concrete and cars so I don’t feel like I’ve seen much).  Among our stops will be Niagara Falls,Toah Nipi, camping at Acadia National Park, friends in Maine, a night and day in Boston,  a couple nights in Philadelphia, and many a mile and hour on the road.  (That’s why we bought a Toyota Yaris.)  I’m sure we’ll take lots of pictures to post!