Browsing tag

adapting

#SAVETHEEARS

WOW. We.Had.No.Idea.

When we started cutting and distributing mask hooks a short two and half weeks ago, we anticipated making a few dozen, or possibly a few hundred to give to our local healthcare workers. We are overwhelmed at the positive response and demand for them!

Attaching mask elastics to these hooks alleviates pressure from behind the ears.

We have now shared these hooks across the country with thousands of healthcare and essential workers to help alleviate pain caused by extended wearing of protective masks. As of this writing, our distribution count is over 4,800 hooks. We continue to receive emails and DM’s every day, asking us to send what we can and we’re thankful that we have been able to meet the need.

Due to the overwhelming response, we are now asking for your help to keep these hooks 100% FREE for those that need them. The cost of packaging & shipping throughout the U.S. is adding up quickly. If you’re able and willing to make a contribution toward our efforts, you would be helping us to get these into the hands of the healthcare workers that need them. We’ve made it as easy as possible for you to do so; you can donate via Venmo: @BWS-charity

A sampling of the packages getting shipped daily to healthcare providers across the U.S.

100% of donations will go directly towards material and shipping costs. We are working hard to keep production going and will continue to do so for as long as we can.

Thank you for your help; your contribution means the world to us.

With love,

Lan & Cathy

P.S. If you are a healthcare worker (or know of one) that could use one of these mask hooks, please email us at cathy@betterwithsisters.com and we’ll “hook” you up ??

PIVOT (part 2)

It’s hard not to pay attention these days. With changes nearly every day coming down from government officials, we’re paying a lot of attention to developing statistics, guidelines, and stories. In addition to the official news, there are a LOT of testimonials from people around the world, sharing how Covid-19 is affecting them. Some of those stories are inspiring, some are heartbreaking, but all of them have served to help us better understand the world around us.

As you’ve probably noticed as well, there has been an ongoing conversation about PPE (personal protective equipment) for healthcare workers. We kept seeing testimonials and images showing healthcare workers dealing with terrible bruising and in some cases even open sores caused by wearing masks with behind-the-ear elastic straps for extended hours, shift after shift. As if the job itself isn’t hard enough, they’re dealing with completely unnecessary discomfort! We realized, while we can’t provide PPE, we can absolutely do something to help them with this problem! You see, with our new business creating consumer pieces, we have some pretty cool equipment at our disposal. And, we’ve decided to put that equipment to use as we address this newfound need.

USING WHAT WE HAVE, TO DO WHAT WE CAN

We reached out to our local hospitals and have now provided our first 300 “pieces with purpose”, specialty mask hooks, to the most deserving people we can think of: our healthcare providers. And, as things often have a way of doing, in the process of our first outreach effort we were contacted by another group in need. We have consequently also designed, developed and donated an additional 300 modified mask hooks to our local fire departments. These are being used to secure surgical masks to patients’ faces. Just this morning, we received a request for 300 hooks at a second hospital in our area.

HOOKS FOR ARROYO GRANDE HOSPITAL HEALTHCARE WORKERS
HOOKS FOR SANTA BARBARA COUNTY & MARIAN MEDICAL HEALTHCARE WORKERS
HOMETOWN HEROES PICKING UP MASK HOOKS

We have no doubt the need for these hooks will evolve and possibly grow in the weeks to come, and we’re grateful for the chance to support our communities in any way we can.

The moral of our story thus far? Well, we’re flipping our original plan upside-down. Our new purpose is to give back first and serve customers later. And we’re 100% OK with that pivot.

With sisterly love,

Lan & Cathy

P.S. If you are a healthcare worker (or know of one) that could use one of these mask hooks, please email us at cathy@betterwithsisters.com or lan@betterwithsisters.com and we’ll “hook” you up ??

The One Where We Take Ross’ Advice

So, we’re pretty sure everyone can agree that 2020 is NOT going how we thought it was gonna go! To put it mildly, this last month has been one of incredible upheaval and we’re feeling it, too. We had 2020 all lined up…plans for our podcast, plans for family trips, and BIG plans to launch a new business offering products we were sure people would love! But, then…but, then…

FREAKING COVID-19! A pandemic?! Who knew that life would look like this: mandatory social distancing, economic uncertainty, a health crisis resulting in (currently) a QUARTER of the world’s population to be in some form of government mandated lockdown? Are we getting Punk’d?!

It would be easy to succumb to the stress and anxiety of it all. It would also be easy to stay in our grief, mourning all the things we can’t do and can’t plan for. And, in full disclosure, there have been some seriously stressed out moments. BUT, and this is a HUGE BUT…you know what’s been awesome? The unexpected and incredibly inspiring GOOD we’ve witnessed these last few weeks.

We’ve seen teachers adapting to unheard of demands to suddenly switch to distance teaching. We’ve seen grocery workers elevated to hero status for working ungodly hours just to meet the demands of scared patrons. We’ve witnessed parents rising to the challenge of juggling full-time childcare with working from home, if they even have the fortune of keeping their jobs. And more than ever, we’ve witnessed healthcare providers adapt to an unprecedented (in at least 100 years) pandemic that’s stretching the system as they know it to its absolute limits. Each and every one of these people are living examples of a credo we stress all the time: do WHAT you can, WHEN you can, HOW you can. You know what they’ve done incredibly well? They’ve pivoted.

They’ve encountered roadblocks in their paths and chosen to adapt their actions and attitudes to move forward anyway. And that’s exactly what we’re doing as well. That new business we had hoped to launch this month? Yep, that’s tabled…for now. But, that’s ok. Because we’re taking the most important part of our new business – our mission – and pivoting with it instead.

Wait, what’s that mission we’re talking about? Well, to put it simply, it’s to make Pieces With Purpose.™ We believe in doing things on purpose, with purpose. Our purpose in 2020 was to curate a business that would allow us to not only fuel our love of creating, but also afford us the continued flexibility to be with our families. Our customers are also our purpose. We want to provide custom pieces that serve to help you celebrate, commemorate, or grow – for whatever YOUR purpose is. Last, but certainly not least, we have always believed that one of our true purposes is to serve by giving back. From the beginning of our Better With Sisters brand we’ve made it a part of our business model to support charitable organizations that we believe in. Our plan was to continue that with our newest venture; for every purchase made, a portion of the proceeds would be given back to a charitable organization or under-served segment of our community.

With Covid-19 posing a serious roadblock to us executing our original plans, we’ve decided to pivot our business while staying true to our mission. Figuring out how to do that required a little time, but we believe we’ve found at least two ways to do so. Stay tuned for our next post… we’ll share exactly how we’ve pivoted and continue to move forward!

(PIVOT Part 2 coming tomorrow!)