Beads of Courage

I purchase a lot of my accent beads from lampwork artists Becki Meckier and Sharon Peters. I've been spending a lot of time in the studio lately and realized I needed to replenish my stash to prepare stock for Fall shows. Once again the stars aligned and I found out yesterday they were both going to be in Sacramento for a meeting of the NorCal Society of Glass Beadmakers and a trunk show today. No brainer ~ Road Trip!

Sharon emailed me the flier and directions. The second agenda item was BEADS OF COURAGE: Have any donations? Bring 'em along! I had no idea what this was so I googled Beads of Courage and discovered an incredible organization. From their website at http://www.beadsofcourage.org/:

"The Program is a resilience-based intervention designed to support and strengthen children and families coping with serious illness. Through the program children tell their story using colorful beads as meaningful symbols of courage that commemorate milestones they have achieved along their unique treatment path." The program is currently in 90 children's hospitals in the US, New Zealand and Japan serving over 15,000 children.

Take a moment to watch this video from CBS Sunday Morning ~ March 24, 2011.

I've gathered a large bead collection over my 20 years of design. Interests change as my experience grows so every once in awhile I go through it and set aside beads I probably won't use. After reading about Beads of Courage last night I realized I'd found the perfect destination for the beads and delivered a large box today, shopped, visited with the artists and met some new ones. A good day!