Thank you, Aardvark Silver!

As many of my readers will know, I donate the profits from everything I make to charity. I raise funds for Cancer Research UK, my village church, and various Tibetan causes, amongst other charities, and between now and Christmas I’m donating all the profits from my Etsy sales to the American Cancer Society in honour of my fellow-Etsian and cancer-sufferer-in-remission, Laura Slocum.

Today I want to share something with you about a very special person called Tanya Boden. I’ve never actually met Tanya, but I’ve had the privilege of corresponding with her. She lives in Thailand and together with her Thai husband, Attit, runs Aardvark Silver – a quality silver and gemstone supply business.

This summer, completely out of the blue, I received a Facebook message from Tanya asking if she could donate some of her gemstone beads for me to use in my creations – she had noticed my charity work and wondered if she could help in some way. I was amazed at such a generous offer! No-one had ever suggested such a thing before (or since, for that matter!), and for a fleeting moment I wondered if there was a catch! But Tanya, like me, just wants to “give something back”.

Not long afterwards I received the most amazing parcel crammed full of all these beautiful beads – all of which will eventually find their way into my jewellery creations and will thus ultimately benefit good causes. I aim to start listing these new designs on Etsy in early 2010, and you’ll know which ones incorporate Tanya’s beads because “sponsored by Aardvark Silver” will appear in each listing.

So I’d like to say a huge thank you to Tanya for being such a warm, caring and wonderful person, and for helping me to raise funds for good causes. And it’s not just me that she has helped – Tanya and Attit also support two boys from one of the villages in East Thailand, and are currently looking to raise enough funds to employ an English teacher in the area next year – a wonderfully worthy goal to help raise the level of education in the area. Thank you so much, Tanya!

Click these links to find Aardvark Silver on Facebook and Aardvark Silver on Etsy