Last month, emeraldmaiden hit a rough spot -- the recession had hit her family business hard. An effort to help her, spearheaded by JekyllnHyde, began. From his diary:
emeraldmaiden recently wrote a diary -- I'm Scared -- detailing her family's economic struggles in which she wrote about her faltering Ebay business. You can read her many comments in that diary. Significant health problems, sharply falling revenues, her husband chasing low-paying jobs, and stress have all contributed to a deteriorating financial situation, with all of their retirement savings long gone. A chronic hip injury (which may require hip replacement surgery at a relatively young age) has severely limited her mobility while enduring constant pain. All of this has resulted in bills past due and creditors knocking on their doors.
It is an all-too-familiar story heard in recent years and one that broke my heart.
I am happy to report that the community came through in a big way and emeraldmaiden is in a much better place because of it. But what of the drawing? Part of the effort involved some prizes -- if you donated $10 or more or wrote a diary suggesting solutions to the jobs crisis, you were entered in the drawing.
This being summer, it took awhile to connect with all the winners, thus the delay in this announcement.
A young neighbor assisted with the drawing:
Ten times!
And the winners are:
My handmade quilt, "Cornucopia" went to Ekaterin
boran2's painting went to dragon5616
emeraldmaiden's handspun yarn went to rfall
Purple Priestess' handmade necklace and earrings went to envwq
Chacounne's handmade blackwork bookmarks went to maggiejean
gloriana's handmade bobbin lace bookmark went to AaronInSanDiego
asimbagirl's handknit wine carrier went to Patric Juillet
triciawyse's two abstract paintings went to ridemybike
Chun Yang's hand dyed batik pillow went to bijoudesigncom
nickinnewyork's Wordpress website design went to Deep Harm
Thanks to everyone who participated! We created some brightness in a spot where things were looking dark. And it made a positive difference.