It's been personal for us, having watched Mark's Mom DeeDee succumb to the memory loss and finally losing her life last year. DeeDee was accomplished in so many ways and it was a painful decline. She was a young ice skating star when she gave up an Olympic opportunity to begin her family, Mark being the first of five children. She was a skilled and prolific knitter, sewer and quilter making beautiful garments, sweaters and quilts for all of her many grand children. She lived on a lake and raced sailboats well into her 70's. Yet she still fell victim to the effects of this devastating disease.
In her memory and for so many others who have or will get this disease we want to improve the funding of Alzheimers research. Last year we walked and we asked for donations and we saw people's generosity. This year we wanted to do more so we developed a plan!
It's probably not a secret I like to bead and I like to make stuff. I created a beaded peace sign for a friend who has collected them for years. It seems a fitting symbol, peace in all things is a positive goal.
I've been married to Mark for thirty years and he has a tender heart. He wanted to help too. So much in fact he learned to bead and he made peace signs.
So here's our plan.
There are three ways to help and 100% of the proceeds for each of the three ways will be donated to the Alzheimers Organization. We have supplied all the materials and time that have gone into our peace project.
We will have finished peace signs for sale in my Etsy store. Some made be me, some made by Mark. The money we are paid will be donated to the Alzheimers organization as we receive it. Peace signs may or may not become an ongoing sale item in the store. If we do make more or if some are sold after the 9th, we will donate the proceeds of any peace sign sales monthly.
For those who wish to make their own peace sign there will be a downloadable tutorial available for sale in my Etsy store. Sales well be donated as we receive them.
If you prefer to donate directly to Alzheimers research, you may donate to Team DeeDee here. For each $10 you will be placed into a raffle to win a finished peace sign. (A $10 donation = 1 raffle chance, $20 = 2 raffle chances, etc). We will be pulling the name of the winning entry during our walk on September 9th and notifying the winner via this blog on September 10th. Mark picked this peace sign to raffle off. It's one of his. Don't forget to check back on September 10th and we'll arrange for the winner to be mailed this very beautiful peace sign.
Mark made his peace sign reversible. One side is embellished with a 2mm crystal and the other with black seed beads. He thinks of it as having a feminine and a masculine side!
