For a community to work, members must help each other out in times of need. Wealthy members have greater responsibility to help out and contribute to members who are struggling to make ends meet. Baby Buggy®, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to delivering essential baby items to New York City families in need, recently held its 4th annual Baby Buggy Bedtime Bash, presented by Target®. The eagerly anticipated sold out event raised $383,000 and was attended by more than 1000 parents and children.

“New Yorkers never disappoint, and they always support fellow New Yorkers in need,” said Baby Buggy Founder Jessica Seinfeld. “Families need Baby Buggy now more than ever – our sites are reporting a 15% increase in need over this same time last year. Many parents who already depend on Baby Buggy are now unemployed and forced to make difficult choices between things like paying rent, or buying medicine versus purchasing a crib or buying diapers. Thanks to our generous corporate sponsors and supporters, the money raised at this event will mean fewer parents having to make painful choices in how they provide for their children.”

Target was lead sponsor. Additional sponsors were Aveeno Baby®, Nickelodeon, Delta Children’s Products, Natural Care by Danny Seo, Lansinoh, Rosie Pope Maternity, MeeGenius! and Skip Hop.

The Target tote gift bag contained up & up™ hand sanitizer, up & up baby sunscreen, Aveeno Baby Daily Moisture Lotion, Aveeno Baby Wash & Shampoo, Delta toddler hangers, Cleanwell, HIT Entertainment DVD, Sprout Coloring Book, Observer Playground, MeeGenius! Postcard, Lansinoh Clean & Condition Cloths, Rosie Pope Maternity bib, Gruber Photographers coupon & free passes to SoulCycle and Citibabes.

ABOUT BABY BUGGY

Baby Buggy®, founded in 2001, is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing New York City families in need with essential equipment, products and clothing for their infants and young children. With an extensive network of community-based organizations, Baby Buggy has donated over 4.1 million items to thousands of children. www.babybuggy.org

Related articles:

• baby clothes??? (parenting-success.com)
• Baby clothes (amazus.org)

Disgusted with the non made in America products, a European transplant living in Arizona starts her one woman attack against mass production.

Louise Felice had a successful line of childrens clothes that she sold in europe. The handmade tradition is still around, there, and her ‘workforce’ were stay at home mums who loved their job as it meant some extra income doing something they loved.

She has decided to try the same thing here. The first collection of girls dresses is out and the boys collection will be available at the end of the year. The workforce is the same … just on a smaller scale at the moment!

Fabrics are found in the most unlikely of places – estate sales, bargain basements – and vintage clothes are also recycled!

“My aim,” Louise says, “is to go off on a complete tangent from mass production. I dont buy anything from Big name stores but rather support the few surviving mom and pop places. I recycle, upcycle, and use anything i think will fit into my collection.”

This has resulted in an eclectic collection where no two items are ever exactly the same.

I asked how she keeps her costs down, as her prices are amazingly affordable. “Well, first of all, the people who work for me love their job and the freedom it allows so they are not at all greedy! I run a cost effective car, use solar power, recycle, barter etc etc – anything that helps me keep my prices low!”

She eventually hopes to be able to employ more people especially stay at home moms. Support the cause – “my prices are low as i want to dress kids and not fleece the moms!”

http://louisefelice.com