What is Spoonflower Doing for Giving Tuesday?
This year for Giving Tuesday (November 29) 10% of Spoonflower’s gross receipts, up to $30,000, will be donated directly to A Lotta Love, a nonprofit helping individuals in homeless shelters and crisis centers find safety, joy and comfort in their immediate surroundings. (Dec. 2 update: Thanks to your generosity on Giving Tuesday, Spoonflower will donate $30,000 to A Lotta Love!)
According to founder Lotta Sjoelin, A Lotta Love’s mission is “to alleviate the trauma of homelessness by creating dignified, safe and emotionally inspiring spaces.” By turning bland beige institutional settings into rooms full of coordinating colors, new furnishings and a personal touch, A Lotta Love brings elements of home into places that need it most.
Over the years, Spoonflower has volunteered with A Lotta Love and donated wallpaper and bedding. This GivingTuesday, we’re turning that support into a direct donation. When families leave spaces created by A Lotta Love, they get to keep everything except for the curtains, which are left for the next guests. The images in this post are from past volunteer sessions and feature Spoonflower products.
How Did A Lotta Love Get Started?
A Lotta Love was founded in 2014 when Lotta heard from a friend that a local domestic violence shelter needed pillows. Lotta, originally from Sweden, and whose life experience includes aid work in India, importing Scandinavian textiles and interior design, sprang into action. Upon seeing the near empty and bland space, Lotta quickly grabbed some furnishings and redid a room for four women staying at the shelter.
While she was there, a woman sleeping in the room she was furnishing walked in and said “a year ago I had a great job, had my own apartment and my own car. Then I got sick and they ended up firing me. Three months later I was living in my car and now I’m here sharing this space with three older women who all snore. Thank you.” The two women then hugged, and Lotta says that “I kind of knew right there and then that this is what I’m supposed to spend my time doing.”
A Lotta Love’s Mission
That first year, A Lotta Love finished 15 rooms at HomeStart, a 24-hour emergency shelter in Chapel Hill, plus a teen room. In the years since, they’ve worked with 24 organizations. In 2022, A Lotta Love has served 15 homeless and crisis centers, including 90-100 room makeovers/kits, several shared spaces and larger renovations, plus a full shelter renovation at the Durham Crisis Response Center. The organization now helps centers in various North Carolina locations, including Charlotte, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Durham and Louisburg, and has plans to expand to other areas in the country. As each room makeover costs hundreds of dollars, the more money they have, the more good they can do.
Lotta says “it’s that sense of, yes, we see you, we respect you, we believe in you. You can do this,” which has helped women, children and families through the years and the organization hopes to help many more.
Lotta believes in bringing color and joy into these spaces as a way of helping people feel seen in a way that fosters safety, dignity and respect. Lotta says “it’s that sense of, yes, we see you, we respect you, we believe in you. You can do this,” which has helped women, children and families through the years and the organization hopes to help many more.
A Lotta Love’s work to provide comfort and dignity to those in need has been the subject of recent academic research by their founding board members, psychologists Mira Brancu and Tina LePage and team, which proved that providing spaces where people feel seen, respected and know they are cared for has a deep impact in also helping them feel psychologically safe.
Through your purchase from Spoonflower on November 29, 2022, you can help A Lotta Love’s mission too.
Details: Spoonflower is proud to support A Lotta Love on Giving Tuesday. Spoonflower will donate 10% of its gross receipts from all sales made on its website between 12:01 AM to 11:59 PM EST on November 29, 2022. Donation agreement does not apply to purchases of gift cards or prior purchases. Spoonflower has committed to a minimum donation of $10,000, and the maximum amount donated will be $30,000. For more information about A Lotta Love, visit its website at alottalove.org.
Frequently Asked Questions
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